Europe must stay the course on the Green Deal, says former environment commissioner – POLITICO

But getting his green proposals passed has always been an “uphill battle”, the former commissioner said, admitting that the environment portfolio was not the position he initially wanted.

“The portfolio I was really aiming for was research and innovation,” Sinkevičius, who served as Lithuania’s minister of economy and innovation from 2017 to 2019, told POLITICO.

“I came very well prepared for the interview and I was talking about it, and the president kept coming back to climate policies, to youth movements, etc…. At the end, she said: ‘Listen, I ‘appreciate your experience in research and innovation, but I see you in the Green Deal role because this is going to be the key policy for us… (and) you are young enough to speak with young people.’”

Sinkevičius said that although it took convincing, he accepted the Green portfolio on the condition that von der Leyen would provide him with political support throughout the term. “I remember that the first difficult moment within the College (of commissioners) was the (2030) strategy for biodiversity,” he said, recalling the challenge of agreeing on how to balance the different economic interests.

“For some colleagues it seemed too ambitious and I remember very well that after many attempts to bring positions together, (von der Leyen) saw the effort and then she said ‘okay, that’s enough, we let’s move on,'” and the non-binding strategy was adopted, he said.

“Few people realize how difficult this portfolio is to pass,” Sinkevičius said, describing a constant balance between conflicting economic interests and environmental protection.