Miriam Dalli makes Politico Class of 2019 with emissions rules victory

Labour MEP Miriam Dalli has been nominated to  the Politico 28 Class of 2019, a list of so called 'doers, disrupters and dreamers' who will transform Europe in the upcoming year, according to the Politico newsroom which selects 28 people from 28 countries.

Miriam Dalli is No. 8 of the list of doers, having built an alliance among left-leaning and Green parties to push through stiff emissions targets in the European Parliament – overcoming opposition from the assembly’s biggest group, the European People’s Party. and fierce lobbying from the German car industry.

Politico said that if Brussels puts in place tough greenhouse gas limits for cars and vans next year, it will be in no small part thanks to Miriam Dalli. Now the Socialists & Democrats MEP is representing the Parliament in politically charged negotiations with the European Council, where national governments advocate a lighter touch. Carmakers have reacted fiercely to Dalli’s proposed limits, calling them “aggressive” and warning that they will force “the industry into a dramatic transformation in record time.”

Dalli, 42, says that’s exactly what she wants: a gearshift in Europe’s car industry. “I stand firmly for what I believe in,” she told Politico. “I will continue working hard to make sure that at the end of the day we will have a strong legislation that actually delivers environmental, health, consumer and economic benefits.”

Her effort has benefited from a rapidly changing industrial and political landscape: rsing transport emissions threaten to undermine the EU’s climate targets in the coming decades. “Voters care about the issues that make a difference in their lives,” she said. Tough emissions standards for vehicles “is an issue that can have a direct impact on the air they breathe, their health, the prices of the cars they buy, their future and present jobs, the competitiveness of our economies. When things are communicated well, people do care.” 

“The POLITICO 28 is our guide to the people to watch in 2019,” said Stephan Faris, enterprise editor at Politco, who led the project. “As usual, our list includes politicians, business leaders, activists and artists selected not for the power of their office but for the way they are shaping their countries or the EU. But this year we’ve done something different: In addition to picking an overall number one, we’ve divided our list into three categories: doers, dreamers and disruptors. Our selection should not be seen as endorsements, but it does reflect who we believe will be shaping the European discussion. We hope our Class of 2019 will spur conversation, and even some dissent.”
 
The 2019 Class of POLITICO 28 are: Matteo Salvini (Italy)

The doers: Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide (Norway), Pedro Sánchez (Spain), Martin Selmayr (Germany), Heli Tiirmaa-Klaar (Estonia), Yulia Timoshenko (Ukraine), Mark Carney (Canada), Barbara Nowacka (Poland), Miriam Dalli (Malta), Ronald Prins (The Netherlands),

The dreamers: Garance Pineau (France), Niklas Zennström (Sweden), Era Istrefi (Kosovo), Peter Vesterbacka (Finland), Sener Levent (Cyprus), Joana Vasconcelos (Portugal)m Ivan Krastev (Bulgaria), Dominik Feri (Czech Republic), Guðrið Højgaard (Faroe Islands),

The disruptors: Mary Lou McDonald (Ireland), Mattias Tesfaye (Denmark), Jeremy Corbyn (United Kingdom), Eleni Touloupaki (Greece), Herbert Kickl (Austria), Ali Can (Turkey/Germany), Márta Pardavi (Hungary), Mischaël Modrikamen (Belgium), Mihai Sora (Romania)