Dublin, 23/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - The recent rejection by the European Parliament (EP) of the proposal for short-term reform of the European scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading (ETS), which was referred back to the European Parliament's environment committee, was brought to the attention of the EU environment ministers at their informal meeting in Dublin on Tuesday 23 April. The Council, however, did not send out any signals, either to the markets or the European Parliament. The Council considers that the ball is now in the court of the Parliament and that it does not itself have much wriggle room for taking a stance before MEPs have done so in the two months available to them following the plenary vote on 16 April (see EUROPE 10828) - therefore in June, in theory, though possibly in May.
“There is a process of reflection going on now both within the Parliament and within the Council. The ENVI committee has two months to consider the matter so the Council, while it will continue its own consideration at a working party meeting in mid-May, will be equally anxious to get a sense of how matters are likely to develop in the Parliament. The Presidency will therefore be monitoring the situation closely”, said Phil Hogan, Irish Environment Minister, who chaired the session. In his view, only minor changes to the text will be necessary as everyone recognises that the ETS system is not working as it should, given that the price of carbon per tonne is not sufficient.
MEP Matthias Grote (S&D, Germany), who chairs the Parliament's environment committee, told ministers and the press that he will not use the two full months available to him, as he intends to “speed up discussions”. A meeting of coordinators of political groups within the environment committee is, moreover, planned for Thursday 25 April for a first debate.
Hogan said he was confident that qualified majority could be reached in Council after having discussed with the German environment minister, who is in favour of a temporary freeze on quotas (“backloading”). The German minister of the economy, however, does not agree. France is in favour, Poland is not, Spain has not yet adopted a stance, and neither has Germany. Within the Council, Germany's position will, therefore, be decisive.
Addressing the press, Connie Hedegaard did not fail to point out that the European Commission had done its work in response to a request made by the Council and by Parliament, and that she expected those two institutions to do their work also by making their final position known. One year ago, she stressed, the “Council asked us to tackle the problem of ETS over the short and long term. The Parliament requested this under the directive on energy efficiency. From July on, we proposed the temporary freeze on quotas and, in November, we proposed structural measures. We require answers from those two institutions” (our translation). (AN/transl.jl)