The new head of the Commission’s environment directorate is expected to be the German, Karl Falkenberg.
Falkenberg, currently deputy director-general of the trade directorate, looks set to take over from Mögens Peter Karl.
The German economics weekly Wirtschaftswoche says the environment commissioner Stavros Dimas is far from happy with the nominee, who he feels lacks the necessary environmental understanding, but Falkenberg has been pushed by Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel as he is likely to pursue ‘an industry-friendly line’.
Scania, MAN, Volvo Trucks, Daimler, IVECO and Ford sent a letter to EU Commissioners asking to delay Europe’s transition to zero emission trucks.
Fossil fuel companies made €180bn in taxable profits in the EU in the two years following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine