Babiš reveals the behind-the-scenes of the night fight for ETS. Poland: We have put our foot in the door regarding ETS2

This is exactly what this provision is for, said the Polish diplomat. According to the current regulations, ETS2 is to enter into force in 2028.

The background of the night's negotiations is also revealed by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who spoke today about disputes lasting until midnight and the Council's conclusions being blocked several times.

In the ETS2 case, Poland did not get what it wanted most, i.e. postponing the entry into force of the system until at least 2030. However, it was possible to negotiate a provision obliging the European Commission to reassess all the effects of ETS2, in particular its structure and security mechanisms.

We stuck our foot between the doors at the EU summit - a Polish diplomat told RMF FM, explaining the meaning of this provision.

Our representatives confirm that this is exactly what the negotiations were about. The Commission is to take another look at the effects of the system, and this opens the way to further discussion about its postponement. The postponement until 2030 is not certain, but the topic has not been closed.

However, regarding the revision of the ECJ, the final document from the summit managed to emphasize that the aim of the current revision of the emissions trading system is also to be the competitiveness of the industry and the prevention of carbon leakage, i.e. the relocation of factories to countries where there are no such stringent climate standards.

Babiš reveals: the dispute lasted until midnight

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš talked about how difficult the negotiations were. As he reported, the discussion on energy prices and the ETS system lasted until midnight. The Visegrad Group, together with Giorgia Meloni, tried to convince other countries to change their approach to EU climate policy.

Together with Giorgia Meloni, we presented two charts that clearly show that ETS1 did not confirm the European Commission's forecasts from 2020 and is destroying European industry, Babiš said.

The Czech Prime Minister admitted that the dispute was extremely fierce. We argued over the conclusions until midnight. I repeated that ETS1 is destroying European industry, and ETS2 will destroy the lives of European citizens, he reported.

“We blocked the Council conclusions several times”

Babiš also revealed that the Czech Republic and its allies blocked the adoption of the summit's conclusions several times. Ultimately, they also opposed the proposal of one of the Scandinavian countries, which - according to the Czech Prime Minister - contradicted their demands.

We blocked her. We blocked the Council conclusions several times, but eventually an agreement was reached, he said.

The Czech Prime Minister praised Giorgia Meloni for being a "great leader" and said that she "enjoys respect." We complemented each other, he reported.

On the other side of the dispute stood, among others, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, which warned against weakening the system in which their industry had already invested.