Brussels, 20/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - It's a done deal. The last Environment Council under the outgoing Belgian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers reached political agreement on the October 2009 draft resolution which seeks to reduce the CO2 emissions of light utility vehicles newly registered in the EU, matching the emissions reductions imposed on private cars. The delegations found no difficulty in endorsing the Council/Parliament/Commission trialogue compromise reached in Strasbourg on 15 December. This agreement postpones by one year, until 2017, the deadline for achieving the average target of 175g/km, and sets the long-term goal of 147g/km by 2020. It also makes provision for fines of €95 per gram for those who fail to meet this limit, rather than the €120 as initially proposed by the Commission (see EUROPE 10280). The final agreement is far from the 135g/km the Commission was hoping for in its initial proposal but below the 160g/km which car manufacturers were hoping for.
Outgoing Council President Joke Schauvliege sees in this agreement, reached coincidentally only a few days after the Cancun climate conference, as further proof of the “EU's determination to make serious efforts” to reduce transport sector emissions. This legislation will also bring fuel savings and encourage innovation in the industry, she stated. She said: “The agreement is not perfect but a lot of effort has been put in by a number of delegations”.
Germany, which fought tooth and nail to maintain the competitiveness of a sector on which so many jobs depend, spoke of a “fine compromise which will mean a considerable reduction in CO2 emissions over a predictable and practicable period of time and still allow us to remain in the van of technology”. Slovakia said that setting the period from 2014 to 2017 to gradually reduce emissions sent “the right signal to the industry” but its support for the long-term objective is “dependent on the outcome of a feasibility study”. Several delegations (the Netherlands, supported by Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland and Sweden) which wanted to bring the limit value below 140g/km expressed their disappointment and submitted a statement to the minutes of the meeting to record that they would have wanted to be more ambitious.
Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard acknowledged that the Commission had been “very ambitious initially” but felt that the agreement was a good one in a number of ways: it will mean that the 2009 proposal can be adopted quickly; it will give the industry time to adapt, and allow it to use the transition period to move towards a more low carbon economy; it will maintain the competitiveness of the sector and, in particular, of SMEs; and will make a more level playing field between private cars and utility vehicles. She pointed out that the long-term target was “much more ambitious than the industry wanted” and that the industry had always to be pushed further than it wanted to go. The commissioner would, then, “ask the Commission to endorse this agreement tomorrow”. The member states' ambassadors, in COREPER, will give formal approval to the agreement on Tuesday. (A.N./transl.rt)