Lijin, Samuel (as Alexis Tsipras)

Greece

I have been extraordinarily clear over the years that the European Union is an elitist institution, an
antidemocratic institution packed with neoliberals that endanger its citizens in every way possible
among them the threat that it poses to the environment through the systems it props up. As the missive
for the European Left the European political party of which I am Vice President explains:

The EU is being built against the biosphere humanity as a whole [is] endangered by the
dynamics of capitalism [] higher profits require increased pollution of all sorts, damage to
human health, sterilization of soils, waste... Indeed, while the rich pollute more, it is the poor
who have to pay the cost and suffer the most immediate damage. Thus, to preserve the
environment [] a break with [] the current functioning of the European Union, which
promotes the destruction of public services and the reign of lobbies and private monopolies and
their catastrophic waste. The pace of unsustainable impacts inflicted on the biosphere is
growing constantly. The European market for carbon emissions, the largest in the world, which
allows companies to exchange "rights to pollute", has not at slowed down this process. On the
contrary, it has opened a new territory for speculation, which benefits the worst polluters, for
accumulating annuities.1

And Syriza, the political party which I represent and lead back home in Greece, is similarly clear on its
environmental policies: our missive makes clear that the environment is a fundamental good threatened
by modern capitalist institutions2, which we desperately need to protect. Syriza itself has strived to do
this for many years; as far back as 2006, we had MPs asking, prior to the Nairobi climate talks, what
energy-saving measures would be taken to address climate change3.

Unite for a left alternative in Europe, IV Congress EuropeanLEFT, Dec 2013. http://www.europeanleft.org/sites/default/files/political_doc_en.pdf.
2
Founding Declaration, Syriza, July 2013. http://www.syriza.gr/page/idrytikh-diakhryksh.html.
3
Measures against climate change, Fotis Kouvelis and Syriza, Nov 2006. http://www.syriza.gr/article/Metra-kataths-klimatikhs-allaghs.html.

So make no mistake: although I find the EU to be an abhorrent institution, one which does not and will
never truly do enough to change, the environment is far more valuable than my quibbles with the EU,
and as such, Greece is and will be an ardent and fervent supporter of any and all measures we take to
protect the environment.

Would the binding target for greenhouse gas reduction by 40% in 2030 be acceptable?
A binding target of 40% reduction in greenhouse gas production by 2030 is more than
acceptable and should clearly be implemented, with the burden falling to each country. Allowances
should be made, naturally, for countries prevented from doing so due to obligations to other countries,
and in such cases the burden consequently shifts from the prevented country to the preventing country.

Would the EU-wide binding target for renewable energy of 27% be acceptable and sufficient?
An EU-wide binding target of 27% renewable energy is perfectly acceptable, but likely
insufficient: 25.4% of EU-28 energy in 2013 was renewable4, and in 2010 that fraction had not yet
reached even 20%: it is clear that in the next 15 years, we are capable of doing far better than reaching a
measly 27%. Responsibility for reaching the goal, however, in terms of individual national targets, should
be distributed in terms of each countrys normative and fiscal capacity to help reach the EU-wide target.

How would Russian sanctions to cut down gas and oil to EU affect the EU-Climate and Energy Policy?
Russia is not the enemy here, no matter how much certain countries might push that view
they have been instrumental and invaluable to the EU in the development of energy policy5. Of course, it

Electricity generated from renewable sources, Eurostat, Nov 2015.

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=tsdcc330&plugin=1.
5
Putin and Tsipras have recently agreed to increase cooperation, particularly on cooperation, hence the stance:
see Russias Putin, Greeces Tsipras agree to boost cooperation, incl on energy: Kremlin, Reuters, Sep 2015.

is incredibly clear that we should be shifting away from oil and gas regardless of the supplier, given the
disastrous effect that using such fuels has on the environment, and since Russia is a major supplier of
such, it is a natural consequence that we will be reducing our dependence on Russian energy supplies.

Will the Commission strategy for a European Energy Union be a solution to the challenges facing EUs
climate and energy policy up to the COP21 in Paris in December?
More bureaucracy is not the solution, especially not in the form of another government
institution that will inevitably be corrupted by the capitalist forces and antidemocratic nature of the
European Union. The answer is to create a new body of representatives, specially elected by either the
European peoples or their parliaments. We have far too many unelected institutions in the EU which are
not answerable to the peoples, and it is time that we started making them answerable and accountable.

What would be the impact of the agreement between US and China on a lower level than the EU to
the EU policy?
The impact is obvious: the EU should be the global leader in innovative, forward-thinking, inspiring
environmental policy, in protecting and nurturing the environment by shifting to renewables and the
like. If the US and China overshadow us, then that means we are not doing enough and should strive to
do more to be the global leaders.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/25/russia-greece-callidUSR4N11R00120150925#QMRmbJARu6L5ZrvM.97.