Belgian MEP Ivo Belet, who steered the MSR through the EU Parliament, will co-ordinate the position of the centre-right EPP on the post-2020 ETS reform proposal, he said Friday.

The EPP is the biggest political grouping in the assembly, with almost 30% of the 751 seats.

“The reform of the ETS is an extremely difficult balancing act between climate ambition on the one hand and preserving the competitiveness of our energy intensive industries on the other,” Belet said in a note on his website.

He said the EU must “at all costs” cut emissions by 40% by 2030 while avoiding production and investment from the bloc’s energy intensive industries moving outside the EU to countries without carbon pricing.

Five of the seven main groupings have selected their co-ordinators, with the centre-left Socialists and the small far-right Europe of Nations and Freedom group remaining.

In order of the % of parliamentary seats their groups hold, the rapporteur and shadow rapporteurs are:

– Group of the European People’s Party (EPP) (29%): Ivo Belet, Belgium

– Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) (25%): Not yet chosen

– European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) (10%): Ian Duncan, UK (rapporteur)

– Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) (9%): Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy Netherlands

– European United Left – Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) (7%): Katerina Konecna, Czech Republic

– The Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens) (7%): Bas Eickhout, Netherlands

– Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Group (EFD) (6%): Eleonora Evi, Italy

– Europe of Nations and Freedom (5%): Not yet chosen

By Ben Garside – ben@carbon-pulse.com