The Dutch parliament voted last week to cut the Netherlands’ greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2030, a move that requires closing the country’s five remaining coal-fired power plants. In an email interview, Pier Vellinga discusses the Netherland’s climate change policy.

The new European Border and Coast Guard was formally approved this month and is due to enter into force in a few weeks. EU member states have shown increasingly rare unity over the need to protect Europe’s borders, even though divisions over how to handle the migrant crisis are as prevalent as ever.