REPORT: Prague Climate Talks: European Green Deal: will it bring structural change?

• The first Prague Climate Talks debate of this year took place online on Tuesday 12th May from 4pm. This project is co-organised by EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy and Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Prague, under the auspices of the UN Information Centre Prague.
• The topic of discussion was the European Green Deal and whether it will bring structural changes. The speakers were Naďa Johanisová from the Masaryk University in Brno, Lukáš Víšek from the cabinet of Frans Timmermans in the European Commission and Jan Freidinger from Greenpeace. The debate was moderated by Kateřina Davidová from EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy.

The discussion was centred around the new initiative of the European Commission, the so-called European Green Deal. What can we expect from it? What opportunities does it offer? How will it affect the developments in the Czech Republic? And how will its implementation be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?

According to Lukáš Víšek, the main strength of the Green Deal and all its associated measures lies in the predictability it gives to the public sector, investors and citizens so that they know which direction will the EU and its economy go until 2030 and it also gives a more long-term perspective to 2050.  For the Czech Republic he sees more opportunities than threats in the Green Deal.

The report can be downloaded through this PDF button.