Brussels – During today’s vote on the ‘Energy Security Strategy’ report of the European People’s Party (EPP) Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Saudargas, a majority of MEPs (338+/319–/42o) voted in favour of an immediate moratorium on fracking given its negative environmental impacts. Food & Water Europe considers today’s vote a milestone for the European anti-fracking movement, even though the final version of the Saudargas report failed to gather the necessary votes to be officially adopted by the European Parliament (277+/315–/111o). This surprising final vote is the direct result of 75 EPP MEPs rejecting and 93 EPP MEPs abstaining from the report of their own EPP colleague Saudargas in order to support fracking and shale gas. The results of this vote clearly show which MEPs are supporting the efforts of Big Oil & Gas to keep the pipe dream of shale gas in Europe alive.
“Today’s vote in the Parliament provides a clear indicator that the public acceptance for the fracking industry is crumbling across the EU,” said Food & Water Europe Director of EU Affairs Geert Decock, “We concur with the Parliament’s view that a long-term investment in shale gas threatens the ambition of the EU to decarbonize its economy by 2050”.
Contact: Geert De Cock tel. +32 (0)2 893 10 45, mobile +32 (0)484 629.491, gdecock(at)fweurope(dot)org