The EU’s flagship climate change agenda faces being watered down by parliamentarians in a bumper series of votes this week, in the shadow of an energy crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The sweeping green overhaul proposed by Brussels last year includes eye-catching measures such as a ban on new petrol cars by 2035 and a steeper carbon tax covering emissions from buildings and transport.
Eight of the proposals will be put to the vote on Wednesday after members of the European Parliament sparred over the package, which is meant to reduce the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions by 55 per cent this decade.
Frans Timmermans, the EU official spearheading the so-called European Green Deal, said on Tuesday that the war in Ukraine had “only accentuated the importance of making the transition happen as quickly as possible”.
But sceptics said the package was too ambitious and expensive at a time when runaway fuel prices are already straining Europe’s citizens, raising fears of street protests similar to France’s Yellow Vest movement.
The parliament’s largest group of MEPs, the centre-right European People’s Party, said it could support making 90 per cent of new cars electric by 2035 but that getting rid of all combustion engines by then was a step too far.
“Let’s not put all our eggs in one basket when setting new rules for clean cars,” said EPP negotiator Jens Gieseke, a parliament member from Germany.
“Mandating a phase-out of combustion engines could put up to 500,000 jobs at risk… member states whose economies are heavily reliant on the car industry must get space and time to adjust and find solutions.”
The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists group said the so-called Fit for 55 package, referring to the 2030 emissions reduction target, would come with “huge social and economic costs”.
“We have a war to the east, high inflation and rising energy prices. Are we really going to increase our citizens’ bills further?” asked Belgian member Johan van Overtveldt.
Mr Timmermans countered that the poorest people in society would suffer most from climate change because "rich people can always find a different place to live, find a way out".
The parliament’s environment committee has already recommended scaling down plans for a wider emissions trading system covering road transport and heating fuel.
MEPs will consider a separate law requiring countries to cultivate forests, wetlands and improve soil health to store more carbon in natural sinks.
Some said the package does not go far enough. Damien Careme, a Green MEP from France, said emissions allowances that give some leeway to companies should be phased out before the 2036 deadline proposed by Brussels.
The centre-left Socialists and Democrats group broadly supports the package but said it must come with measures to help the most vulnerable people cope with the race to net-zero.
“This will require a deep transformation of our economy and society… it can only be a success if we make it socially just,” said Spanish socialist Iratxe Garcia Perez, who called for “a green transition with a red heart”.
The Fit for 55 package was unveiled last July with the fight against climate change in mind. The EU has a target of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 in line with its commitments under the Paris Agreement.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has sharpened focus on generating renewable energy at home, while at the same time tempting governments to look again at condemned fossil fuel projects as an alternative to Russian imports.
The parliament is relatively weak compared to national assemblies in Europe, but its votes will determine its negotiating position in talks with the EU’s 27 countries.
It will also have to approve an eventual legal text, usually thrashed out in talks with the European Commission and the 27 governments.
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The team
Videographer: Jear Velasquez
Photography: Romeo Perez
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Models: Meti and Clinton at MMG
Video assistant: Zanong Maget
Social media: Fatima Al Mahmoud
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Pathaan
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
MATCH INFO
Liverpool 0
Stoke City 0
Man of the Match: Erik Pieters (Stoke)
Wayne Rooney's career
Everton (2002-2004)
- Appearances: 48
- Goals: 17
Manchester United (2004-2017)
- Appearances: 496
- Goals: 253
England (2003-)
- Appearances: 119
- Goals: 53
Dolittle
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Michael Sheen
One-and-a-half out of five stars
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
AC Milan v Inter, Sunday, 6pm (UAE), match live on BeIN Sports
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
States of Passion by Nihad Sirees,
Pushkin Press
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Medicus AI
Started: 2016
Founder(s): Dr Baher Al Hakim, Dr Nadine Nehme and Makram Saleh
Based: Vienna, Austria; started in Dubai
Sector: Health Tech
Staff: 119
Funding: €7.7 million (Dh31m)
UAE v Zimbabwe A, 50 over series
Fixtures
Thursday, Nov 9 - 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Saturday, Nov 11 – 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Monday, Nov 13 – 2pm, Dubai International Stadium
Thursday, Nov 16 – 2pm, ICC Academy, Dubai
Saturday, Nov 18 – 9.30am, ICC Academy, Dubai
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
