This is the best summary I could come up with:

Wopke Hoekstra, who was the Netherlands’ foreign minister and worked for an oil company and a consultancy before getting into politics, was questioned by MEPs on the European parliament’s environment committee about his employment history and commitment to climate action during a three-hour session on Monday night.

He made clear his position on the oil industry, telling the committee: “Fossil fuels must become history, the sooner the better.” In a separate hearing on Tuesday, the Slovakian commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, was questioned about expanding his job description to finish the European green deal.

In his opening speech, Hoekstra told the committee: “The fact that certain oil majors have long known of their role in climate change and sought to ignore the evidence – I find it truly unethical.”

“The ambitious climate goals, such as phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, are clear and verifiable,” said Mohammed Chahim, a Dutch MEP whose centre-left group supported Hoekstra in the committee vote.

If confirmed by a vote in the European parliament on Thursday, Hoekstra and Šefčovič will together replace Frans Timmermans, who resigned as the EU’s top climate envoy to run in the Dutch elections next month.

Elisa Giannelli, from the climate thinktank E3G, said: “The onus now is on Hoekstra to prove accountability to commitments made – starting from securing a strong mandate on fossil fuels phase-out before Cop28.”

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