Citizens' Dialogue online with Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius

Growth can be green. We can work on that transformation together

Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius

Commissioner Sinkevičius held an online dialogue on 29 May in the framework of the European Youth Event. Several young citizens wanted to know to what extent the Coronavirus pandemic would have an impact on the Green Deal.

Commissioner Sinkevičius underlined that “the Green Deal remains our main goal and it is fit for purpose”. He stressed the fact that the EU has to achieve better resilience and the Green Deal has to be the path to follow. The European Parliament and the Council do encourage the Commission to pursue that goal through the recovery plan and it growth strategy, he emphasised.

The Commission will stick to the 2030 goals and the crisis is an opportunity to come out stronger. “With a huge amount of public money, we put everybody on the track of green recovery”, the Commissioner stated. It should be a just transition and public money will help to invest in green technologies and to create jobs.

There are many lessons to be learnt from the crisis: necessity to fight big challenges together, to bring nature closer again and the role of the youth to “keep pushing us to deliver and propose new ideas”. Then the pandemic has shown that we need to do things differently in many areas to create a healthier society and save our planet.

The Commissioner then focused on the different aspects of the Biodiversity strategy aiming to ban over exploitation, reducing pollution, greening the cities and improving heath of the citizens. He also stressed the crucial role in this context of protecting the oceans and said that “the Commission has a good chance to reach an agreement on the protection of the high sees this year”.

As for the circular economy action plan, Commissioner Sinkevičius expressed that he thinks it will generate a more sustainable economy and decrease the pressure on nature. He also insisted on the fact that the current crisis “clearly exposes the weakness of the supply chain”.

Asked about the fight against over-consumption, the Commissioner answered that “pollution and climate change respect no borders” and that it is therefore necessary to work with developing countries. The EU has to lead by example, being transparent, setting higher standards and sharing good practises.

In conclusion the commissioner appealed to the young people to play a crucial role in helping to deliver the Green Deal and taking responsibility for the planet. "Be brave and help us implement and never be shy to propose innovative ideas", he said.