Von der Leyen proposes Wopke Hoekstra as EU Commissioner for climate action

autotldr Bot , 10 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

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European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has proposed outgoing Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra for the post of EU Commissioner for climate action.

In a statement published on Tuesday following an interview with Hoekstra, von der Leyen said he had shown “strong motivation for the post and great commitment to the European Union.”

In a statement on social media platform X, Pascal Canfin, MEP for the centrist Renew Europe group and Chair of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, said that Hoekstra’s candidacy is “not a done deal”, in a sign of a tough hearing ahead.

“Wopke Hoekstra is a former Shell employee and a member of a party that has systematically been trying to sabotage important parts of the European Green Deal such as the Nature Restoration Law,” Left MEP Anja Hazekamp said in the statement.

Von der Leyen confirmed that Hoekstra would steer the EU’s climate policy under the guidance of socialist Maroš Šefčovič, who has inherited Timmermans’ previous responsibilities as European Commission Vice-President for the Green Deal.

When serving as the Dutch finance minister from 2017 and 2022, Hoekstra gained a reputation in Brussels as one of the most vocal critics of shared fiscal burden, rallying a group of so-called “frugal” countries to oppose issuing collective debt in the form of “corona bonds”.

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