European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen promised to launch an EU fund to help wean members off fossil fuels as she visited coal-dependent Poland on Thursday (AFP Photo/Janek SKARZYNSKI) |
Warsaw (AFP) - Ursula von der Leyen, president-elect of the European Commission, said Thursday the European Union plans to launch a special fund to wean members off fossil fuels and wide-ranging consultations on the future of Europe.
She was
speaking in coal-dependent Poland, which last month blocked an EU bid to set a
target of zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and called for measures to
compensate for the costs of converting to new energy sources.
"There
will be a huge investment necessary in regions that have to step up into new
technologies and new jobs, that's why we will create the Just Transition Fund,
to support those regions," Von der Leyen told reporters at a joint press
conference with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Warsaw.
"We
have to make sure that we ... take people along" as the EU reduces its
emissions that cause global warming, she said.
With
Britain expected to leave the EU by the end of October, von der Layen also
announced that she would launch wide-ranging consultations on the future of the
bloc after she takes office in November.
"We
want to begin a conference on the future of Europe, that we go out in our
member states and discuss how people, the European people think the future of
their European Union should be," she said, calling it "an incredible
endeavour."
Von der
Leyen also touched on the thorny issue of the rule of law amid serious
misgivings in Brussels over the legality of judicial reforms pushed through by
Poland's right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government.
The EU has
launched unprecedented proceedings against Poland over "systemic
threats" to the rule of law that could see its EU voting rights suspended.
"There
are difficult issues we have to tackle like migration or the rule of law,"
von der Leyen said, calling for dialogue and mutual respect when addressing
differences.
Prime
Minister Morawiecki said he "great hope" for a "new
opening" between Warsaw and Brussels in coming years adding that his talks
with von der Leyen would focus on "a commissioner for Poland, a
portfolio."
He
indicated earlier this week that Poland was interested in "primarily"
commission posts focused on the economy or finance.
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