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Michael Forte

@mforte.eurosky.social
134 followers 215 following 36 posts

EU Politics & Climate Governance @e3g.bsky.social Brussels. Improving decision-making to strengthen climate action. Views my own. (at)mforte_polgov on the other place.

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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/07/2026
9/ How do we overcome this? Open up the process so we can all see how the plans are made, which elements came from natl govts, which came from the COM, and where local and regional authorities should take the lead. This is the best way to create true multi-level, society-wide ownership of the plans.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/07/2026
8/ Why should we bother? Cash-for-reforms is an opportunity to deliver on common EU priorities beyond the MFF's size. In the field of climate and energy, the RRF helped trigger permitting reform and fossil-fuel subsidy phase-out that multiply the impact of EU public spending on cleantech.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/07/2026
7/ Content: is the Semester still austerity-focussed? It is still debt/deficit-focussed - govts chose to reaffirm this less than 2 years ago in the revision of the fiscal rules. However, the scope of the Semester recs has broadened a lot since the Green Deal: www.e3g.org/news/from-dr...
e3g.org
From driving austerity to shaping the EU's clean transition
The 2026 European Semester offers a key opportunity to better integrate climate risks, transition investment, and clean competitiveness into EU economic governance.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/07/2026
6/ Process: will the Semester-NRPP connection impose unpopular measures? The Semester offers a diagnostic and recs, not policy prescriptions. Member states do the first draft of the NRPPs, so the policy mix they decide to use to address a particular rec says a lot about their own preferences.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/07/2026
5/ Is problem 2 a reasonable characterisation of the current situation? imv, probably not, both for process and content reasons:
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/07/2026
4/ Problem 2 - what if we don't like the recommendations? Semester recs come with €-crisis baggage, when they were very austerity-focussed and in some cases imposed through bailout programmes. Hence why FM Bettel refers to this linkage to the EU budget as "the best campaign for populism”
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/07/2026
3/ Problem 1 - who's responsible for the reforms vs. who uses the funds: In most countries, natl govts control the policy decisions needed to trigger funds that local and regional govts use. National political instability could stop cities and regions from getting on with implementation.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/07/2026
2/ Where do the reforms come from? Art. 22 of the COM proposal is the "reference framework", i.e. the menu of reforms. It includes the European Semester country-specific recommendations, but also sectoral documents like National Energy and Climate Plans and CAP recommendations.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/07/2026
1/ NRPPs = investments + reforms. Govts draft the plans, COM assesses them, Council approves them. To obtain disbursements of EU funds, govts self-report completion of milestones and targets several times per year. No reforms, no EU funds.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/07/2026
Per @politico.eu , the Council is now waking up to the implications of the "cash for reforms" model in the National and Regional Partnership Plans #NRPP . A thread on the MFF, Semester and national ownership 🧵 www.politico.eu/article/gove...
politico.eu
Governments criticize EU’s cash-for-reforms model in new budget
Ten EU countries complained that the Commission’s blueprint could penalize regions and stall payments.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 25/06/2026
Thanks @eccoclimate.bsky.social and @i4ce.bsky.social for bringing together finance experts to talk #climate #governance . It's shaping up to be one of the critical files of this mandate that will make or break investment in the energy transition!
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 26/05/2026
I've written for E3G about the least well-understood policy process in the EU - the European Semester - and how and why it can be made more relevant and visible for the clean transition www.e3g.org/news/from-dr...
e3g.org
From driving austerity to shaping the EU's clean transition
The 2026 European Semester offers a key opportunity to better integrate climate risks, transition investment, and clean competitiveness into EU economic governance.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 19/12/2025
My write-up of where the EU budget negotiations stand, following the last #EUCO of the year: www.linkedin.com/pulse/mff-ne...
linkedin.com
MFF negotiations - the end of the beginning?
With all eyes on support for Ukraine's reconstruction and the Mercosur agreement, one of the items on yesterday's EUCO agenda could potentially slip under the radar. On 18 December, EU leaders had the...
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Reposted by Michael Forte
E3G - Third Generation Environmentalism @e3g.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
📢 New E3G x @eccoclimate.bsky.social report: how credible private sector plans can help build more “investable” national transition strategies. Explore the insights: www.e3g.org/publications...
e3g.org
Making national strategies in the EU investable
Achieving a sustainable transition for a competitive Europe depends on national strategies that give the private sector confidence and direction.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 04/08/2025
Sandra Tzvetkova and I round up five things climate watchers should pay attention to in the #MFF proposals. The last thing to read before going on holiday, the first thing to read when you come back!
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 03/07/2025
Deciphered some Commission prose on #2040ClimateTarget flexibility for @carbonbrief.org
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 02/07/2025
propositionem habemus www.e3g.org/news/eu-2040...
e3g.org
European Commission releases proposal for a 90% emissions reduction target by 2040
The 90% target puts the EU on course towards climate neutrality by 2050 and gives predictability on the way forward.
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Reposted by Michael Forte
Linda Kalcher @lindakalcher.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
@neilmakaroff.bsky.social and I might have advocated for the 2040 target to be discussed at EUCO. Just not this way. A debate on how the target boosts competitiveness, investments, innovation, affordability and enabling policies to reach is required. Not to ditch 2040. pro.politico.eu/news/200907
pro.politico.eu
POLITICO Pro
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Reposted by Michael Forte
Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe @caneurope.org · 25/06/2025
❗BREAKING: French President Macron is putting the EU 2040 climate target agreement at risk❗ More info: www.bankier.pl/wiadomosc/Fr... (In PL) 🗣️ @harmeling.bsky.social reacts:
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 25/06/2025
Je ne sais vraiment pas par où commencer. Voici comment le gouvernement français veut souhaiter bon anniversaire à l'Accord de Paris:
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 20/05/2025
7/7 I develop this argument in more detail in this briefing for @e3g.bsky.social: www.e3g.org/publications...
e3g.org
Improving climate and energy policy coordination through the next EU budget
With the right changes, the EU's multiannual financial framework can become a much more effective tool to pursue common priorities such as climate and security.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 20/05/2025
6/7 So, "national and regional partnerships for investment and reforms" could be an opportunity to kick-start horizontal planning for the 2030-2040 period, as the RRF did for 2020-2030. But only if they draw on the work that has already been done for the NECPs.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 20/05/2025
5/7 NECP enforcement via infringement procedure is fraught. The reform & investment plan model offers a way through - deliver on the plan, get the money. With the right guardrails, this could incentivise more serious, whole-of-government planning for the energy transition.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 20/05/2025
4/7 NECPs are varying in quality, depending on how seriously Member States undertake this whole-of-government planning exercise. But they offer a template for multiannual planning in line with the European Climate Law (net-zero) and international commitments.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 20/05/2025
3/7 The National energy and climate plans (NECPs) are a completely separate exercise undertaken by govts to outline how they will reach their energy & climate targets (energy efficiency, renewables, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, interconnections, research and innovation).
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 20/05/2025
2/7 Tying EU spending to national reforms is not new, it was a feature of the #RRF. The National recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) were supposed to address country-specific recommendations issued by the EU, but also incorporate other existing planning exercises, notably the NECPs.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 20/05/2025
At the 2025 Annual Budget Conference, @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu just confirmed that the Commission will propose "national and regional partnerships for investments and reforms" (NRPIR?) for the next #EUBugdet. What could this new set of reform plans mean for energy & climate? Some thoughts: 1/7
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Reposted by Michael Forte
GreenDeal-NET @greendealnet.eu · 12/05/2025
🔋 How can the EU budget accelerate decarbonisation & build a greener & resilient economy? Key reforms to the Multiannual Financial Framework are crucial: - boosting synergies - aligning national plans - simplifying governance - & empowering local action Read @e3g.bsky.social's briefing👇
e3g.org
Improving climate and energy policy coordination through the next EU budget
With the right changes, the EU's multiannual financial framework can become a much more effective tool to pursue common priorities such as climate and security.
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Reposted by Michael Forte
E3G - Third Generation Environmentalism @e3g.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
🧵The EU’s next budget offers a key opportunity to enhance climate and energy policy coordination. We explore how better governance of the Multiannual Financial Framework (#MFF) can support #decarbonisation and a greener, more resilient economy. 🔗Read the full briefing: www.e3g.org/publications...
e3g.org
Improving climate and energy policy coordination through the next EU budget
With the right changes, the EU's multiannual financial framework can become a much more effective tool to pursue common priorities such as climate and security.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/02/2025
8/8 E3G's full analysis of the #CleanIndustrialDeal #CID , together with the first #Omnibus simplification package and the #AffordableEnergyActionPlan is available here: www.e3g.org/news/the-eur...
e3g.org
The European Commission reveals a clumsy forward agenda
Today, the European Commission unveiled key pieces to set the direction of the European economy in times of crisis.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/02/2025
7/8 Lastly, this section includes a dig at monopolies, in particular Big Tech. Good to see that competition policy may look more closely at the distributional impacts of monopolistic behaviour. Could this be linked to ongoing supermarket boycotts in the Balkans? (balkaninsight.com/2025/01/31/w...)
Quote from p.21 of the Clean Industrial Deal
Furthermore, competition policy plays a crucial role in protecting citizens' rights against excessive power, including in the digital realm, ensuring that new players operate fairly and do not concentrate economic and strategic power unduly.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/02/2025
6/8 On social leasing for clean tech, the experience from the French EV leasing scheme shows increased uptake among young people and low-income households (www.transportenvironment.org/uploads/file...), but this is also a tool of industrial policy to boost demand.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/02/2025
5/8 The lessons of the US #InflationReductionAct start to be reflected in the proposals on public procurement and State aid rules reform, thanks to campaigning from unions and CSOs: COM commits to explore training and skills conditionalities for firms receiving subsidies or public contracts.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/02/2025
4/8 The #QualityJobsRoadmap (Q4 2025) takes onboard some elements of a #JustTransitionDirective, a framework to anticipate change. But as @etuc-ces.bsky.social argues, reskilling cannot benefit workers without a right to training during working hours (etuc.org/en/pressrele...)
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/02/2025
3/8 #UnionofSkills (Q1 2025): a strategy "to enhance the EU’s competitiveness and preparedness”. Measures are limited to soft law (such as on skills recognition, or quality jobs), with a passing reference to additional funding from Erasmus+.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/02/2025
2/8 Though the section is framed around social fairness and the just transition, there is a clear focus on skills. Skills shortages are a central concern of the #DraghiReport and the #CompetitivenessCompass - social rights and the distributional impacts of decarbonisation not so much.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 27/02/2025
What does the #CleanIndustrialDeal 's section on jobs and skills tell us about how the "new" Commission leadership understands workers' place in the industrial transition? A thread 🧵 1/8
Screenshot of page 20 of the Clean Industrial Deal
7. Skills and quality jobs for social fairness and a just transition 
Every person, community, and business should benefit from the clean transition. The Clean Industrial Deal therefore commits to a just transition that delivers quality jobs and empowers people, building on their skills, while promoting social cohesion and equity across all regions. Our industry needs a skilled workforce and must offer quality jobs to attract top talent. Keeping workers and local communities at the centre of the industrial transformation, harnessing talents and further building up needed skills is essential for a successful clean transition. At the same time, the clean and digital transition also means shifts in the workforce and new requirements for skills.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 26/02/2025
With our expertise across #CleanIndustrialDeal #CID, the first #Omnibus simplification package and the #AffordableEnergyActionPlan, here's E3G's overall take: the EU now has a forward agenda, but it's a clumsy one. www.e3g.org/news/the-eur...
e3g.org
The European Commission reveals a clumsy forward agenda
Today, the European Commission unveiled key pieces to set the direction of the European economy in times of crisis.
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 11/02/2025
This is the issue with the Commission choosing to focus on the reform side of the RRF and ignore the huge leap in size of NGEU. This carrot is much smaller. Two options: 1. more money, or 2. an innovative, yet-to-defined mechanism that somehow creates reforms buy-in without cash.
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Reposted by Michael Forte
Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe @caneurope.org · 06/02/2025
📆 One year ago today, the EU Commission proposed a 2040 emissions target Since then? ❌ No Climate Law amendments ❌ No 2035 target ❌ No NDC We are tired of waiting! #ClimateActionNow #2040Target 🔗 caneurope.org/2040-communi...
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 23/01/2025
When Donald Tusk tells us that "Europe should not be fearful", this is the kind of data we should have in mind. 🌄 Decarbonising is happening, it's saving us money and it's making us more resilient. ⬇️⬇️⬇️
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Michael Forte @mforte.eurosky.social · 06/01/2025
The 🇪🇺 Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change #ESABCC has published its 2025 work programme. Looking forward to robust and independent recommendations on - CO₂ removals 💨 - Climate mitigation in agriculture 🚜 - Climate adaptation & resilience ☂️ climate-advisory-board.europa.eu/news/the-adv...
climate-advisory-board.europa.eu
The Advisory Board’s 2025 Work Programme
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