July 11, Minsk. The new climate change measures approved by Brussels mean an even greater increase in the price of heating houses and a rise in the price of gasoline. This situation threatens the European Union with social unrest, writes Baltnews.

The European Parliament nevertheless approved the long-discussed proposal of Brussels to extend the effect of the system of trading in quotas for greenhouse gas emissions to the construction and transport sectors. Private housing will also be subject to the new law, although it was previously thought that some concessions would still be made. The need to buy permits for emissions of harmful gases will significantly affect the contents of the wallets of millions of Europeans. Construction, heating houses and fuel for cars will inevitably become even more expensive, which, even with some mitigation measures taken by European governments, could cause social unrest.

Last summer, Pascal Canfin, MEP and chair of the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment, along with other cautious lawmakers and politicians, warned against making the mistake of extending greenhouse gas emissions trading to heat and fuel. It was rightly assumed that this would cause discontent among the population.

A year has passed, during which the economic situation in the European Union deteriorated significantly as a result of both the coronavirus and the Ukrainian crisis, inflation jumped up. Despite all this, the dubious bill was still approved at the end of June. Although amended, the decision to expand the cap-and-trade market from 2027 will apply to residential heating and automotive fuel.

In fact, a "pipe tax" will be introduced - both for smoke and exhaust pipes. The details are unclear, but it is assumed that the owners of houses and apartments with insufficiently "green" heating systems will have to pay extra for this in accordance with some yet unknown recalculation schemes. As far as car fuel is concerned, the cost could simply be increased to encourage motorists to buy an electric car or switch to a bicycle.

The introduction of this kind of carbon tax, which raised the price of gasoline, brought the "yellow vests" to the streets of Paris at the time, which led to mass clashes and frightened the European establishment.

A special social European fund is supposed to ease the strain, help homeowners and road transport owners by subsidizing the transition to cleaner fuels and switching to electric vehicles. But the size of this fund does not correspond to the scale of the tasks.

Marie Toussaint, vice president of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, called the fund too small and said no one believed it "on its own would meet the social needs of the transition."

Identity and Democracy MP Aurélie Besnier of France's National Rally party called the special fund a form of fraud and said she "has very doubts that the money will reach the poorest people and that the funds will be enough to compensate for the rise in prices" .

A number of other MEPs comment to journalists in a similar way, noting that the inclusion of households in the quota trading system is a red line that should not be crossed.

Protests have already erupted in Western European countries caused by changes in the green policy of the European Union. In Brussels, fears are expressed due to mass manifestations of social discontent caused by the introduction of environmental requirements for home heating systems, transport and construction.

Dutch police have opened fire on farmers who they say tried to run them over with tractors in protests against the government's decision to comply with Europe-wide plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

These plans may require farmers to use less fertilizer and reduce livestock numbers. Farmers in the Netherlands have nothing against fighting climate change in principle, but they do not understand why it is their farms that should be the victims of this battle for the common good. Part of the farmers will go bankrupt if the government's intention to radically reduce the emission of nitrogen oxide and ammonia, which are a by-product of animal husbandry, is not softened.

B Європі високі ціни на газ можуть протриматися близько двох років

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