Strasbourg, 16/12/2003 (Agence Europe) - Monica Frassoni, co-chairman of the Greens/FTA group of the European Parliament, took advantage of Romano Prodi's presence at the plenary session in Strasbourg on Tuesday to ask him if it was part of her mandate that European Commissioner for Energy, Loyola de Palacio pronounced the Kyoto Protocol "dead" following the Energy Council of 15 December (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.11). Loyola de Palacio remains "committed to the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol", and yesterday she did no more than to express her concern at the danger of ratification failing, said the President of the European Commission. The Commission, he added, continues to work with Russia and the other countries which have not yet ratified the Protocol, but it is clear that the fact that Russia "never hesitates to propose alternatives all the time" does not help.