Strasbourg, 13/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - The German chancellor and current president of the European Council, Angela Merkel, told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that the German presidency wanted commitments on “binding reductions” to be made at the European Council on 8-9 March, in an effort to fight climate change. She said “I share the Commission's objective to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2020, on the condition that we find international partners” ready to make the same efforts. The chancellor affirmed that “Europe has to show the way” in the fight against climate change but, “one continent alone is not enough” for resolving this problem, which threatens the whole planet.
The energy package the Commission proposed in January, and which will be on the table of the European Council in March, is “ambitious”, recognised Ms Merkel. Although the chancellor supports the Commission's aim to strengthen the internal energy market and improve energy efficiency, she did not mention the Commission's proposal on Tuesday (a controversial one in Germany) and which aims to separate production activities from energy operator distribution networks (“unbundling”).
Merkel also appealed for “quantitative and binding objectives” on reducing bureaucracy and administrative charges for EU companies and citizens. She said that the “Better Regulation” initiative would be one of the central themes of the European Council in March. “We have to look at how we create bureaucracy”. EUROPE will be returning to the debate tomorrow. (hb)