MP: Estonia should start EU a dialogue to change Emissions Trading System

At Monday's informal EU General Affairs Council meeting, European defense readiness will be discussed. Opposition MP Urmas Reinsalu (Isamaa) said Estonia should use the opportunity to discuss modifying the emissions trading system (ETS) so it can be used for controllable capacities, such as oil shale power plants, for energy security.
On Friday, the Riigikogu's European Union Affairs Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee discussed the government's positions ahead of the meeting.
On Sunday, Reinsalu wrote in a social media that he thinks Estonia's positions lacked specificity and set out several of his own proposals. He said they were not supported by the government.
Estonia should suggest lifting the existing budget rules on new defense investments by member states, he wrote. This would implement a proactive procedure instead of retrospective calculation, he said.
Additionally, member states' structural funding could be used when acquiring new defense investments, the MP suggested. Joint funding could also be used for this purpose.
Estonia should also propose opening a dialogue to change the Emissions Trading System (ETS) to allow member states to use critical controllable capacities in the interests of energy security, Reinsalu said.
The government's positions will not be made public until 2030 so Reinsalu could not present them for comparison.
"The issue of modifying the ETS system last came up in the context of our energy security following the attack on Estlink 2. At the time, government representatives assured that such discussions were not on the table at the EU level. Now, the EU Council President, Poland's Donald Tusk, has raised the issue, and it would be in our interest to express our positions in this discussion specifically from the perspective of energy security," the chairman said.
Reinsalu has formerly served as defense minister (2012-2014) and foreign affairs minister (2019-2021, 2022-2023).
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Editor: Mari Peegel, Helen Wright