Brussels, 09/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - No more than in Australia, the European troika mission in Japan, in preparation for negotiations in Bonn on climate (see EUROPE of 7 July, p.6), did not manage to increase the chances of the Kyoyo Protocol being ratified in 2002, without the United States if need be. During their meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi and Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, Olivier Deleuze, Belgium Minister for Energy, Margot Wallstrom, Commissioner for the Environment and Lena Hjelm-Wallen, Sweden's Deputy Prime Minister, were confirmed of Japan's difficulties in concluding an agreement in Bonn (COP6, 16-27 July) from which the Americans would be excluded. Inclined towards a compromise with the world's largest power altering the Protocol's binding goals and timetable, the Japanese again called on the Union to find common ground with the Americans. The Japanese Government still retains the hope of convincing the United States of returning on their decision not to ratify the Protocol. Succeeding this bet will be the object of the visit by the Japanese Environment Minister Kawaguchi to Washington, on Friday. For its part, the Union troika repeated that there could be no failure in Bonn.
Speaking to the press, the spokesperson for Margot Wallstrom declared on Monday: "the meeting did not lead to the expected breakthrough. The situation remains critical, but the Union will continue to do its best to keep the Protocol alive in Bonn". Acknowledging that Japan and Australia had great difficulties in concluding an agreement in Bonn, as long as the United States was not on board, she added: "They are nevertheless ready to negotiate the key-elements of the compromise package". Asked on the possibility of a later date, she replied that the Union retained as sole goal an agreement in Bonn on the package as a whole.