Far-right MEP to lead talks on 2040 climate goal he called ‘utter madness’

Parliament’s centrist and left-wing forces have vowed to try and stop Ondřej Knotek from stalling work on the 2040 target.

As the lead 2040 lawmaker, Knotek will set the agenda for talks aimed at finding a common Parliament position. | Alexis Haulot/EP

European Parliament member Ondřej Knotek, who recently called for the EU to abandon its 2040 climate target, is now in charge of leading negotiations on the new goal.

A spokesperson for the far-right Patriots for Europe group confirmed that Knotek would be in charge of the file, after the group outbid centrist groups for the role. 

Knotek previously said the EU needed a law to address the impact of climate change. But he has savagely criticized the Green Deal, calling it “ridiculous,” and arguing the policy was “damaging industry” without actually stopping the “floods and fires.”

He has also frequently raised concerns about the outsized impact the clean energy shift will have on his home country of Czechia, which still uses coal power and is poorer than other EU countries.

Last month, Knotek urged the EU to abandon the 2040 target while explaining his vote against the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal, a plan meant to boost manufacturing while helping firms decarbonize.

In July, he called the 2040 proposal “utter madness.”

“It will bring price hikes, loss of choice in heating or transportation,” he said in a post on X. “Another betrayal of citizens by Ursula von der Leyen and all those who helped her to power a year ago,” he added, referencing the European Commission president.

Knotek did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

As the lead 2040 lawmaker, Knotek will set the agenda for talks aimed at finding a common Parliament position. 

The far right’s climate power grab left other groups stunned and fearful that the Patriots would stall the goal, leaving Europe without a united position ahead of the COP30 climate talks in November. All countries are expected to submit their 2035 climate targets ahead of the gathering.

On Tuesday, groups spanning from the far left to the center right moved to counter Knotek’s influence by backing a timeline that would lead to a full Parliament vote on the 2040 goal by October 1.

“Thanks to our pressure, the PfE rapporteur has already been partially disempowered,” said Greens MEP Lena Schilling, who’s leading her group’s work on the 2040 climate target.

The center-right European People’s Party had previously rejected a motion to fast-track the 2040 file. But the EPP’s climate lead, Peter Liese, told POLITICO the new timeline proposed Tuesday was “ambitious but reasonable.”