- 6 weeks ago
MEPs clash in The Ring over the right answers to Europe's scorching heat dome
A record-breaking heatwave is baking Europe - have politicians failed to protect citizens? Is air-conditioning the answer? In this edition, Benedetta Scuderi (Greens) and Andrea Wechsler (EPP) talk about the political consequences of a (failed?) climate policy.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/07/01/meps-clash-in-the-ring-over-the-right-answers-to-europes-scorching-heat-dome
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A record-breaking heatwave is baking Europe - have politicians failed to protect citizens? Is air-conditioning the answer? In this edition, Benedetta Scuderi (Greens) and Andrea Wechsler (EPP) talk about the political consequences of a (failed?) climate policy.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/07/01/meps-clash-in-the-ring-over-the-right-answers-to-europes-scorching-heat-dome
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:08Hello and welcome to The Ring, Euronews' weekly debate show broadcasting from the European
00:14Parliament here in Brussels. I'm Stefan Grobe. On The Ring, members of the European Parliament
00:19go face-to-face on some of the biggest issues facing the EU. Today we want to talk about
00:25the heatwave that is baking Europe and that raises some fundamental questions about the
00:30way we're dealing with climate change. Luis Albertos has more.
00:40Europe is the fastest warming continent on Earth, heating up at roughly twice the global
00:45average rate. As temperatures continue to rise, a critical question emerges. Is Europe prepared
00:50for a hotter future? The challenge goes far beyond climate policy. Cities are struggling
00:57to deal with extreme heat, energy systems are facing growing pressure and governments are
01:03being forced to find new ways of protecting society's most vulnerable. The debate is also
01:09increasingly ideological. Broader questions are being raised about consumption, health and
01:14sustainability. Should we forget climate change for a moment and just stay in our own air-conditioned
01:20homes, if we have one? Or is it time for drastic action to be taken to mitigate the worst effects
01:28of climate change? Difficult choices lie ahead.
01:33Well, a lot to unpack for our debaters, and here they are.
01:39Benedetta Scuderi, an Italian MEP from the Greens. She's a member of the committees on industry,
01:45research and energy, and women's rights and gender equality. Regarding the climate crisis,
01:50she says, in Europe we are witnessing a climate collapse and its most dramatic effects, such as
01:55uninhabitable homes, power cuts and blocked transport systems, but the right continues to deny climate change
02:01and to slow down the transition. This is not pragmatism, but a choice that is destroying us.
02:08Andrea Wechsler, a German MEP from the Central-Right European People's Party. She's a member of the
02:13committees on the environment, climate and food safety, and on industry, research and energy.
02:19She says, targets and goals alone will not protect people, infrastructure or nature. The real question
02:25is how we deliver. We can lose ourselves in ideology, conditionalities and regulatory micromanagement,
02:31or we can move from debate to delivery, technology open, market open, and innovation open.
02:39So let me welcome to the ring Benedetta Scuderi and Andrea Wechsler. Good to see you. Good morning.
02:45Both of you and great to have you here. Now, the aim of the ring is to offer our viewers
02:50a glimpse at
02:51European Parliament debates, so you should feel right at home. Are you ready? Yes. Yes. All right.
02:58Let's start. Europe is once again facing record-breaking temperatures, wildfires and droughts.
03:04Is Europe ready for this? Is it prepared or is this simply the new normal? Andrea, I'm going to start
03:12with you.
03:12Well, first of all, let me say that we have had 150 million people affected by the heatwave over the
03:18last couple of weeks. And we lost 1,300 people. And I think this loss shows us we are not
03:24yet prepared.
03:24We are doing everything now which is in our hands to find these issues at a European level. But no,
03:31we are not at where we need to be to protect people in Europe. Why are we not prepared? This
03:35is not the
03:36first time we had a heatwave. We had, you know, extreme weather in the summer. It's not just the summer,
03:42because we have extreme weather in the summer. We have extreme weather in the autumn. I want to remember
03:46Valencia. I want to remember the flooding also in Italy. We have extreme weather also in the winter.
03:51This is a pattern. It's a climate pattern. And we're not prepared because there's a lot of people
03:56in this parliament and in many institutions that still think that climate change is not an issue.
04:01And if we do not respond to these extreme conditions in a systemic way, we will never be prepared.
04:08If we think that is one or the other emergency now is the heat and then is the flooding and
04:12then
04:13the extreme conditions, we will not be prepared if we don't put money. We don't give systemic
04:18solutions. And we don't understand that the issue is the climate collapse. If we still keep listening
04:24to who is saying that this is not a problem and that we have time, then we will never be
04:29prepared
04:29and the conditions are going to be worse and worse. Who is to blame for this? If every year,
04:33every summer, we're kind of taken off guard by the heat, by the heat wave, with the consequences
04:38that you've described. Who is to blame for this? Well, scientific evidence is clear. We do have
04:44climate change and it's induced by human behavior. It's CO2 emissions that is partially responsible
04:50for the climate change that we have. And we now have pulled the right policy levers on a European
04:55level to tackle the clear signals that we have, how we need to address climate change. So there is not
05:01this one person to blame. But what we're doing now is take responsibility in the face of scientific
05:07evidence to tackle climate change in Europe and to lead to decarbonization. Well, it's maybe not
05:12one person, but is there one institution? Are there national governments? Is there a commission?
05:18All of them? We cannot blame one institution. It's a systemic problem. We can blame the multinational
05:25that like 57 of them are like the most polluted, the biggest polluter and we are doing nothing about it.
05:31We can blame our governments because they're still not adapting as fast. We can blame the European
05:36parliament also when they decide to do step backwards on the climate, on climate laws,
05:42on climate regulation, climate related regulation. I want to remember the deforestation, for example,
05:47the deforestation law that we had a lot of steps back. And this is one of the first steps that
05:52we
05:52need to actually take to respond to the climate crisis. Is the parliament also to blame and not just
05:58the parliament, the parliament, the consul and the commission when they want to de-finance climate
06:02adaptation. In the new MFF proposals, there is basically no money for climate adaptation and we
06:08see the situation we are now. And we also need to blame internationally people like Trump that
06:14decided to not even go to COP and to get out of the climate negotiations. This is extremely dangerous.
06:21So a weakening climate policy? Many people believe that your party is sort of part of the problem,
06:27not part of the solution when it comes to climate policy. How do you respond?
06:29No, we're clearly a part of the solution. We're not part of the problem. We clearly recognize that
06:33there is a climate issue and we are tackling the climate issue. But what we are not doing
06:37is rolling back on climate legislation. On the contrary, what we are doing is to accelerate the
06:42implementation of the climate legislation that we've taken and that we've put into place in the
06:48European Union, which is the most ambitious continent. And this has been done under Ursula von der Leyen.
06:53The Green Deal is EPP policy. And we are now trying to combine the clean industrial deal with the
07:00Green Deal, which means like make it work now, but with technology openness and not with bureaucracy.
07:05If you take the deforestation legislation, that is that is not leading us to the effect that it's
07:10meant to have with a bureaucracy that comes with us. And this is what we're doing. This is not deregulation.
07:15Do you agree? Absolutely not. I am sorry. But the EPP is a big part of the problem. The EPP
07:24in this
07:25mandate is deciding deliberately to side with the far right on many legislation. And one of the two
07:31main topics is climate and environment. Deforestation is not bureaucracy. Like fighting deforestation
07:37globally, that was the intent of the regulation, is the main aim that we have, is the main mean that
07:43we
07:43have to actually fight and stop the climate change. I mean, if we keep thinking that we're not giving
07:51answer and aligning with the far right and destroying the Green Deal, because there's many pieces of the
07:56Green Deal that have been destroyed by the EPP in this moment, without giving a direction to Europe,
08:01this is making us more vulnerable. Okay. How do you think about air conditioning?
08:06Air conditioning. I think at some point it becomes necessary, but we also need to
08:13make our housing and our buildings more efficient. And this is another thing that I will really have
08:19the EPP on board to not destroy the building efficiency directive, for example. I think also that
08:26this is a social justice issue because air conditioning is only available for the richest part of the
08:31population. It's not available for the part of the population that is more vulnerable. And we need
08:36to provide to everyone the possibility of refreshment. Andrea, what is your position on air conditioning?
08:42Well, first of all, let me be very clear. We're neither destroying the Clean Deal. We've made a
08:45clear commitment for the 2040 climate targets, nor are we destroying climate legislation. On the contrary,
08:51we're trying to make it work by accelerating the implementation of the climate legislation and by
08:56being clearly committed to the climate goals of the European Union. What about air conditioning? Oh,
09:01that's a big debate right now in Europe. Well, it's clearly to me one very important part in terms
09:07of an electrification strategy. We need a cooling strategy for people. We've had people, the elderly,
09:12the vulnerable, the children in schools that were impossible to survive or even to have schooling.
09:17Yes, air conditioning is one of the pillars and the solutions for the people. It's electrified.
09:23This is the way the European Union is going forward. It will be one part of climate adaptation,
09:27but this will not be enough. And that is why we're working on the implementation.
09:30But Benedetta mentioned the sort of the social inequality when it comes to access to that
09:36technology. Do you think she has a point? Well, it clearly is one. And that's why it's so important
09:40that the Commission now comes up with a cooling strategy where we clearly need a targeted strategy that
09:45we protect the vulnerable first. And that is the elderly, that is hospitals, that is schools. And then it
09:51goes to private homes. And yes, this is our task to make climate protection for the vulnerable.
09:56How can we implement such an idea? I mean, the schools, hospitals, etc. Many hospitals and schools
10:02have air conditioning. Not in all countries. Not in all member states. Yeah. The point is, and again,
10:09I would like to take on board the EPP on this, we need funding. And this Commission is not putting
10:14funding
10:14on this. We've been asking since the start of the mandate some funding for building renovation. We have a
10:20building renovation directive, which we really want to keep. But that is again a social justice issue
10:25because if we don't have the funding, also only the people that can afford the renovation,
10:29we have will have efficient housing. And instead, we want especially the people that cannot afford the
10:34renovation, the public administration, the schools, especially in countries and regions that are
10:39more in more danger to be able to afford the renovation. And this Commission is not putting
10:45money on it. The Parliament is also not agreeing on this because we, for example, in the European
10:50Competitiveness Fund, are asking for a part of the money to go into building renovation. We've been
10:55asking it in the MFF. We are asking it in all the places. If you don't put the money, you
11:00can do all
11:01the cooling strategy you want. You're not going to have that.
11:03Should it be a European thing here or should it be left to the national governments because they're
11:07closer to the situation? First of all, European money is endless. And we need to be very clear
11:13about where we put the money for the next couple of years. And yes, it would be a great wish
11:18list to
11:18have air conditioning for schools on the MFF wish list. But this will not realistically work because
11:24we will not be able to fund European air conditioning in the breadth as we need it. So our avenue
11:30in the
11:30DPP is clearly to fund innovative technologies to make the technology cheaper and to work on the
11:37lowering of energy prices in order to make the operation cheaper. So energy prices down,
11:43technology cheaper, and this is going to make it more accessible. And just on a side note, in Germany,
11:48air conditioning is considered to be a heat pump. And so you can actually get subsidies by the German
11:53state. So I think given the limitations of the budget on European level, we should not put it into
11:58subsidies for air conditioning, but into innovative technologies on the one hand side and lowering
12:03energy prices on the other hand side. Let me just step in here as we're just getting
12:07warmed up. That is no pun intended. We are ready for the next round.
12:16Now it's time for you to challenge each other directly, just as you do in the hemicycle behind us.
12:23So Benedetta, this round starts with you. Yes. So my colleague has talked about the difficulties that
12:29many workers on the workplace have experienced in this heat wave. So I want to ask you if you will
12:36be
12:36available to support a cultural directive for the European Commission to protect workers, especially the
12:44most vulnerable one from heat waves. That means more breaks. That means understanding which are the
12:50temperature. That means changing the shift. We need a legally binding directive and we need the EPP on
12:56board because we can say we want to protect European people. All right. That's a long question.
13:01First of all, let me be very clear. We need to protect workers and we need to use the flexibilities
13:06and the
13:06law to protect them in place. There is already a big body of law for the protections workers in place.
13:12So before we call for a new
13:13directive, our EPP approach clearly is let's make an impact assessment of what directives do we have,
13:18what national legislation do we have and how does it fit together? Because what we do not want to
13:23have is yet a call for a new directive in elements which are already largely regulated on a European
13:29level and allow the member states for flexibilities. We have northern states where you have more protection
13:34for cold weather probably and then heat waves where we have other member states. So let's keep the
13:41flexibility, clearly commitment to protect workers, but let's not do another directive without having
13:46evaluated what the current legislation already does. All right. Now your question to Benedetta.
13:51Well, let me talk about technology openness, Madame Escuderi. If we want to really convincingly
13:57decarbonize, we need to be open not only for electrons and clearly electrification will be the main
14:03pathway for decarbonizing, but also for molecules. And what I see the Greens going for is that they do
14:10not treat all technologies that we need for decarbonization equally. Take CCOs, take low carbon
14:15hydrogen, take synthetic fuels. This is something we don't get your party on board. How will you approach
14:21renewable energies that comes from molecules? So first we need to understand what is the renewable and
14:27what is not renewable. Then we need to understand what is sustainable and what is not sustainable. That
14:32mostly I think this is a way from a certain part of this parliament, and not just this parliament,
14:38but politics to hide the fact that we want to keep fossil fuel in. Because CCT, it's a good technology,
14:46but only if we use it in a very, very hardly decarbonizing sectors. Instead, the People Party wants to use
14:53it in
14:53things like electricity production. And we have renewable energies for that. We don't need CCT. And this has been
15:00actually approved by the parliament in the project of common interest. And for us, it's absolutely impossible to
15:07sustain something like that because it's economically absolutely non-efficient, cost-efficient, and it's also
15:13dangerous for the environment. Low carbon hydrogen is a very costly technology. And we saw it because we had a
15:21hydrogen program and that was not flying because it's just not economically efficient. And he said that the
15:28technologies could be. And also low carbon hydrogen is made with gas, if you intend blue hydrogen, which
15:34is absolutely doesn't make sense because gas is very costly. Hydrogen is very costly and is still keeping the fossil
15:42fuel in.
15:42So what would happen is that we will not have low carbon hydrogen. We will have gas inside the energy
15:47mix. And this is a
15:48strategy of the fossil lobby to have fossil fuel in the energy mix forever. We actually want to get
15:54out of that. So if we have technologies that are doing this, are cost-efficient and are scalable, the
15:59greens are all open. All right. We've heard the views from our guests. Now it's time to bring in a
16:05new voice.
16:09I would like to bring in Simon Steele, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on
16:16Climate Change. In a statement released last week, he said this. Until humanity stops burning colossal
16:23amounts of coal, oil and gas, extreme heat will keep getting worse. And other climate impacts from mega
16:30droughts, floods, wildfires and storms will keep hammering every economy and population harder each
16:38year. He certainly has a point here. But how realistic is it that we get off fossil fuel immediately
16:47in the European Union? First of all, he's right. Burning fossil fuels cannot be the way to the future
16:53because we know the impacts and we felt it in the heat wave. The question is how fast can we
16:58work on the
16:58transformation and what decarbonization levers do we have? So first of all, the strategy in the European
17:03Union is clear. Let's get independent from fossil fuels imports. Let's try to electrify in order to
17:09get the fossils out of our system, which is also a major issue in terms of resilience. And then there
17:15will be hard to abate sectors where we have to work on alternatives. We talked about hydrogen, which will
17:19be one of the important pathways to go forward. But there will be some sectors where we need fossil fuels
17:26also as a base sort of material in the chemicals industry. And we have to be open to use it
17:31at least in
17:32those processes where we cannot substitute it. But clearly, the majority of the policies targeted
17:37are towards defossilization. But even if Europe acted tonight, right, or tomorrow,
17:45we cannot save the world alone, the planet alone. Now, a global climate policy is under pressure,
17:52if not under attack. You mentioned Trump earlier. How can we get the international community
17:58sort of back on track towards a, you know, a common climate policy?
18:03Well, first of all, we need to keep our own goals and to not water them down. And again,
18:09like the climate law, we're very happy that we have a climate law that is setting a target for 2040.
18:14But again, because of the EPP lining with the far right, we couldn't have a very clear target and we
18:21have it watered down. How can we can expect to convince the rest of the world to have good targets,
18:26good policies if we are the first that are doing that backwards? Second, we need to be clear on what
18:32we are financing. And again, I mean, I understand that we say that we want to phase out fossil fuel,
18:38but then if in the negotiation, if in the files, we don't say that no European money are going into
18:45technologies that are financing fossils and that all the MFF is actually going to phase out fossil fuel
18:52as an aim. Of course, it's not happening in the next seven years, but that needs to be the aim
18:55also
18:56of the MFF. Then we are not going into the right direction. Okay. Andrea, the EPP has been mentioned
19:02again. No, I mean, we are not watering. Is that cooperation with the far right coming to haunt you?
19:07No, it's absolutely, no, we are clearly standing by the climate goals. We fixed 2040 and yes,
19:13we have an offset to 85 percent because this is also reaching out into other countries and to allow for
19:19quick wins. We can do it perfectly here in the European Union with 90 percent in Europe,
19:23and this will be very hard to achieve. And it's better to have the 90 percent with an offset in
19:28other countries, Article 6 in the Paris Agreement, which allows for it. It's foreseen in the international
19:33community. I think this is a very pragmatic way forward with still reaching the 90 percent,
19:39but giving flexibilities to achieve it. Okay. Are you happy with this answer? Absolutely not.
19:45We can do both and we should do both. All right. Let's take a break here on The Ring.
19:49We'll be back with more after this. Stay with us.
20:01Welcome back to The Ring, Euronews' weekly debate show. I'm Stefan Groben,
20:05and I'm joined by Benedetta Scuderi from the Greens from Italy and Andrea Wechsler from the European
20:10People's Party from Germany. Today, our topic is the sweltering heat that Europeans are suffering from
20:16right now. One aspect is the heat in our big cities. European cities can be up 10 degrees hotter
20:24at night than surrounding rural areas during heat waves. In Paris, for instance, nights are typically
20:30four degrees warmer than nearby countrysides. In Madrid and Rome, heat waves show 10 to 15 degrees
20:36surface temperature gaps between city and rural areas. Even Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin now see more
20:43tropical nights and stronger nighttime heat. Should cities be legally required to provide more green
20:52spaces? I think the problem with Europe that has been the last mandate is that we had a lot of
20:57legal
20:57requirements, but we had no financial support with it. And this is extremely unfair. What is happening now
21:03in the next MFF is also that cohesion funds are going down. So that means that cities in the most
21:08vulnerable regions are actually going to suffer over cuts of funds. How we can make a legal requirement
21:13to a city that is already extremely underfunded? We have a requirement from Europe and then we say,
21:17but then you see how to do it. Then European citizens aren't going to hate us. We need to do
21:22both.
21:22We need to do regulation. We need to accompany people and cities to do this, and we need to give
21:26the
21:27right financial provisions. Seeing there, I'm different. I say, no, we do not need legal regulation
21:32because this is something that the municipalities, the nation states, in terms of subsidiarity,
21:36can deal with on local level. And they need to see what is possible to fund. Where do the funds
21:41come
21:41from? And at the same time, every region, every city is different. We have very different
21:46elements in the city. So let them do their job on the ground. They do an fantastic job.
21:49That's an interesting question. Is it becoming a question of inequality?
21:52Absolutely. And this is a cohesion matter because it's inequality within Europe. That's why, of course,
21:58we don't need a very strong regulation, but we can have regulation of consumption of soil that,
22:02for example, we propose. And again, the EPP has watered down saying like, no, let's not put it binding.
22:08So we still have a very high rate of consumption of soil and Europe has done nothing about it.
22:14While we know that consumption of soil is very bad for heat waves and flooding, that doesn't mean
22:19we need to say to the city how to do it. But we can say, OK, now we need to
22:23reduce the consumption
22:24of soil and now we need to remake green some areas and we can provide you with the financial support.
22:30That means more own resources. That means also maybe taxing the richest part of the population
22:36that's becoming richer and richer and maybe doing some public debt as well, common debt.
22:40Thank you so far. And now it's time to move on to our fifth and final round.
22:49And here we want to do something different. I'm going to ask you a set of questions
22:52and you can only answer with yes or no. OK, Andrea, I start with you.
22:59Simple question. Is Europe winning the fight against climate change?
23:02Yes, they're on their way. Uh-huh. No, no. All right. Should new homes be legally required to
23:10withstand extreme heat? No, it's not another mandatory requirement. We go for decarbonisation
23:15and this is one of the main levers for housing. OK. They already are for European directive,
23:20so I hope this answer doesn't mean that EPP wants to backtrack us on that. OK.
23:25Has climate policy become too ideological? Yes.
23:30Yeah, from the far right, because they are attacking it without knowing it.
23:34OK. And one more. Is there anything that has been that you have heard over the past half hour
23:42from your opponent that you agree with? A lot of things, actually. We all agree that we need to
23:48fasten up on climate prevention, adaptation, mitigation, that we need to provide the correct funding.
23:55I think we have a different view on regulation, on the role of Europe and the role of European budget.
24:03But there's other things that at least me and Andrea agree. I'm not sure the whole group of Andrea will
24:09agree.
24:10Andrea. Well, I think in the targets, we're absolutely aligned. It's a question of how we implemented,
24:16even in the small targets, about air conditioning. I think there is a strong alignment.
24:20So let's make this work. There's always the argument that when it comes to climate policy,
24:25this is politicians haven't brought the public on board. Yeah. Is that something you agree with?
24:33I absolutely agree with that, because there's been a lot of targets. And I said this before,
24:39that was the problem on our last mandate. There were a lot of targets that I really agree with,
24:43but there was not enough guidelines, guiding and funding to actually achieve these targets.
24:50So if you say to someone, this is it. Now you need to renovate your house. You need to buy
24:54an electric
24:55car. You need to do this. They will not be able to do it. But instead, if you say, OK,
24:59like let's say to
25:01the member states that they need to renovate all the public housing that are inefficient and we give them
25:06part of the money and they need to find the other part of the money, then the part of the
25:10population
25:11that is in the most difficulties will have a better house. The targets will be met. And actually,
25:16the most inefficient building park will be renovated. If we did San Fernando, we would have
25:21the people on board. If we just say, what to do, no.
25:24That's the very different approach from us. Like we would not put it down from Brussels on the people
25:29and give them funding for it. But we want people bottom up to have a business case to understand
25:34that if they install a heat pump, this is going to be beneficial and economically for the environment.
25:40Let them be part of the solution and not paternalistically from the top, from Brussels,
25:45bring it down to the people and give them funding.
25:48Have you ever been to the south of Europe? Have you ever been to the south of Europe, to the
25:50eastern Europe?
25:51Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I lived in Italy for two years.
25:54Do you see the condition of some people living there? Do you think they can afford to put a heat
25:59pump?
26:00And that would be the first vote. Energy prices in Italy are one of the highest.
26:03That is not about the energy prices. I know, I know, I know.
26:06But this is not the case. But the problem is that in some places of our continent,
26:12and not just in some regions, but like in the suburbs and where the most vulnerable people live,
26:18people cannot afford to put a heat pump. So we're going to be like,
26:21oh, we give you a business case and you do it. They cannot afford to pay the rent.
26:26They cannot afford to pay the food. And we want to give them a business case? No.
26:30We need to give support. We need to give financing. And we need to want a Europe as a once.
26:36So that has no differences. Instead, if we say, you do it on your local level,
26:40we will just increase inequalities and differences.
26:44Does she have a point here? No. Well, I do see the point which she's trying to make.
26:48But eventually it will not work if you partner realistically make, you know,
26:52you're now forcing the people into transformation, even though they're in vulnerable areas,
26:57even though there is energy poverty. And it's taking them on board and having
27:01investments being made in those local communities is massively better. And if you talk about Italy,
27:06it's one of the most fossil fuel dependent energy systems. That's why here we have to change.
27:11And then electricity prices go down. And then you do have a business model.
27:14All right. I think we cannot solve this problem today. But thank you so much for a very interesting
27:21conversation. Then this brings us to the end of this edition of The Ring. Thanks again to
27:26Benedetta Scudeli and Andrea Wechsler. Thanks to our audience at home. If you'd like,
27:32you can continue the conversation by sending us your comments to the ring at euronews.com.
27:38That's it for today. I'm Stefan Grober. Take care and see you soon on Euronews.
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