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The revision of Article 7bis received a majority of votes this night in Parliament. But not the two-thirds majority necessary for its adoption.
CAs might have been foreseen, the House rejected this morning at around 2.15 am the proposal for the revision of the Constitution to improve cooperation between the different entities for an effective climate policy. The revision was voted by 76 for, 66 against. Despite a mostly favorable vote, the two-thirds threshold required for the adoption of the revision was not met.
The N-VA, the CD & V and the VLD having immediately announced their opposition to the project, it was unlikely to pbad. Most parliamentarians who spoke at the night's debate acknowledged that more ambitious goals and stronger climate action are needed. Some confessed that recent interest in the subject is mainly due to the many events that took place in Belgium, including the actions of young people who, since early January, parade on the streets every Thursday.
But beyond these observations, the supporters of a revision and those of cooperation agreements between the federal and the Regions have proved irreconcilable. Calls to history, responsibility, ethics, the image of demonstrations involving tens of thousands of people in recent months, have not hit the mark. Opponents of the revision blamed the proponents of the proposal – the ecologists of the North and South of the country – for exploiting the subject for electoral purposes.
Flemish social-Christians and Flemish liberals have also agitated the danger that an inscription of a "Effective climate policy" in the Constitution and the subsequent adoption of a special climate law with quantified objectives do not open the door to actions in the courts in the event of default by the authorities.
They pleaded for the use of a faster and more reliable tool according to them: cooperation agreements. The Flemish side has also heard several critics of the project protest against what they see as an attempt to refédéraliser "Climate competence and encroach on the competences of the Regions.
The climate law will not see the day
The proposed special law, which was to be based on revised Article 7bis, will not be forthcoming. It included climate objectives for 2030 and 2050 and thoroughly reviewed Belgian climate governance, which was deemed to be ineffective.
But the discussion does not stop there. Several parties (CD & V, MR) have tabled or are preparing amendments to introduce the idea of mandatory climate cooperation agreements between the regions and the federal government. A path considered too heavy and unambitious by those who supported the revision of the Constitution.
The discussion will resume next week. But we do not see it succeed until the end of the legislature. Especially since there will also be a majority of two-thirds (with a majority in each language group moreover).
On the environmentalists' side, it has already been said that the file was not closed. "We will continue this fight. The climate protesters will not let us downsaid Ecolo group leader Jean-Marc Nollet. The work will resume soon on the same text or with the same intentions ".
The summary of the debates
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