Strasbourg, 23/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - By adopting without reservations on Tuesday, in first reading, the report by Guido Sacconi (ESP, Italy) on the proposed decision relating to a monitoring mechanism for the emission of greenhouse gases and the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, the European Parliament (EP) will avoid a second reading of the text and, in particular, permit the Environment Council on 27 October to adopt, it without debate. In fact, the text passed by the parliamentarians is the fruit of negotiations between the EP and Council of EU Ministers. Contrary to what was initially foreseen by the Commission, it provides the member states with the possibility of choosing 1990 (and not only 1995) as the reference year to measure progress achieved in terms of the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This is an option permitted by the Kyoto Protocol and which is particularly advantageous for Finland and France, countries that managed to visibly reduce their emissions at the beginning of the 1990s. Though for a long time opposed to the '1990 option', due to the belief that it would lead to technical and political problems, the European Commission rallied to the Council/Parliament compromise and welcomed the result of the vote in a Communiqué published on Wednesday. It should be noted that the many compromise amendments concern the technical procedures for measurement and their management. As for the most important amendment in political terms, it is without a doubt amendment 35, which insists over the fact that use of instruments such as joint implementations, the clean development mechanism and the international trade of emission rights must be complemented by internal action, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Kyoto Protocol and Marrakech Accords.