Poland Blocks Merkel’s Push to End EU Carbon Emissions by 2050
- Hungarian, Czech governments join forces with Poland at summit
- Western leaders frustrated over EU inability to build momentum
Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki arrives for an European Council Summit in Brussels, on June 20.
Photographer: Aris Oikonomou/AFP via Getty Images
Poland blocked a push endorsed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the European Union to end greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, setting a sour tone for a summit that ended with a failure to decide who’s going to lead the bloc’s key institutions.
Before the gathering, Merkel allied with the heads of several mostly western EU states to support advancing a plan to reach zero net emissions by the middle of the century. Poland, endorsed by Hungary and the Czech Republic, derailed that plan in a heated discussion at the start of the summit in Brussels on Thursday. The 2050 deadline was dropped from the leaders’ statement and got reduced to a footnote backed by a “large majority” of members.