Athens, 15/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - EU member states are examining the impact on their economy of the EU's planned Climate and Energy Strategy for 2030, and EU28 environment ministers clarified their countries' positions at a meeting of the Environment Council in Athens on 14 May.
The first stages of a fair sharing of the burden among the member states were laid at the meeting. The ministers paved the way for bilateral talks on 18-20 June between the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and the member states in preparation for the European Council on 26-27 June. The ministers fine-tuned the EU's strategy for the next stage of international talks, a ministerial round table meeting in Bonn on 5 -6 June, and on the scale of commitment made under the Kyoto Protocol, and the Durban Platform as part of the United Nations' talks on climate change.
The Greek environment and climate minister, Ioannis Maniatis, who had chaired the meeting, told reporters that the talks had been very fruitful and numerous viewpoints had been expressed. He said work would continue until October under the Italian Presidency and there would be further talks under the Greek Presidency at the Environment Council in June. Asked whether he expected agreement to be reached in October, he refused to comment because the talks will be tough. He said he would be the happiest of chairs of the Council if he could give an answer. EU heads of state have promised to decide on a binding agreement in October and there are currently three groups of countries - those that agree with the European Commission's proposal of a binding 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on the 1990 level and a European target of 27% for renewables that is binding on the EU but not on individual member states; those that have major reservations and disagree on the 40% target (the Visegrad countries, along with Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania which have not yet made up their minds); and those that feel that European Commission's proposals do not go far enough when one considers what the planet needs.
As provided for by the roadmap agreed to by the European Council of March, “all member states will carry out their analysis to prepare for the progress report expected by Herman Van Rompuy in June. Following the bilaterals, if necessary, the European Commission is prepared to provide its contribution to facilitate the process. We will see how the process can be structured between June and October”, Jos Delbeke, Director General of DG Climate Action of the European Commission, told press.
During the exchange of views, many ministers, including those of Central and Eastern Europe - led by Poland - plus Ireland, stressed the importance of ensuring the security of energy supply. With the developments in the crisis in Ukraine, the debate on energy security to reduce dependency has gained momentum, Delbeke acknowledged. However, he added, “all ministers have stressed the need for compatibility between the need to improve energy security and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The importance of energy efficiency and renewables was also highlighted by the ministers.”
Referring to the guideline debate on sharing the burden, he referred to three criteria put forward by the delegations, specifically: the cost-efficiency criterion, the equity criterion (GDP per head of population or other) and the convergence criteria between the efforts of the member states, bearing in mind the long term (the target to be reached by 2050) for each country and per head of population, as called for by the United Kingdom. During the debate, however, other criteria were raised, such as the public debt criterion, which was championed by the Irish Minister, Phil Hogan.
For the international negotiations in Bonn, the ministers said that the efforts already made by the EU to cut its emissions and the assurance that already has that it will beat its Kyoto target by 2020 are an asset. “The EU is outperforming its Kyoto commitment. This is a signal for an ambitious agreement in Paris in 2015, for a legally binding global agreement”, the president of the Council summed up before press. And according to Hans Bruyninckx, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency, “the crisis can only account for 30 to 50% of the reduction in emissions. The crisis is a moment of turbulence in a steady downward trend.” (AN)