Brussels, 08/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Council began late on Thursday afternoon with traditional meeting between heads of state and government and the president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, who was also to attend the dinner on Thursday evening devoted to the preparation of the Declaration of Berlin of 25 March. In his speech, his first since being elected to the head of the EP in January, Mr Pöttering urged European leaders to assume their responsibilities and take the necessary decisions to combat climate change and adapt Europe to globalisation. He then turned to the major issues of this European Summit:
Climate change and energy. “Binding objectives are essential. They are the key to the credibility of our efforts and would, at the same time, send out a clear signal to our partners throughout the world,” he said, reiterating the EP's call for a binding, unilateral objective of a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and a binding target in Europe of a 25% share of energy production from renewable sources by the same deadline; an increase in research funding in the area of energy as part of the mid-term review of the 7th framework programme; the creation of a genuine internal energy market, based on solidarity; the EU to play a leading role in negotiations for an agreement on post-Kyoto arrangements. Mr Pöttering also wants to hold a meeting between the EP and the 27 national parliaments to discuss climate change.
Lisbon Strategy. “The aims of the Lisbon Strategy are correct. However, we are still far from having attained them. … The results are unsatisfactory because the reforms already adopted by the Council, among other decision-makers, have not been implemented sufficiently. We must accelerate the reform process as a matter of urgency,” he stressed. In addition, the four freedoms on which our internal market is based still have not been fully implemented, he went on, “There are still many barriers to the free movement of goods and services, many gaps in transport, energy, financial services and telecommunications networks”. Mr Pöttering announced that the EP will urge that the forthcoming Commission report on the review of the internal market should result in rapid progress towards a better integrated common market.
Better regulation. This, he said, was “essential” for the success of the Lisbon Strategy, “The main aim is to simplify legislation”. Mr Pöttering backed Angela Merkel's idea of introducing the idea of “discontinuity”: at the start of its term of office, each new European Commission should review the legislative proposals submitted by the previous Commission and consult with the other Institutions as to which deserve to be taken forward. “The European Parliament can play a constructive role in this process”. A further problem was that member states did not always fully transpose or implement European law. “There is indisputably a tendency in the Member States to make too little effort in this field. The implementation deficit is incontestable. In the European Parliament we shall devote more attention to this issue in future, and I should like to ask you to do the same,” he said.
Meeting on the sidelines of the European Council, Socialist and Social Democrat leaders gave their backing to the Commission's energy and climate change package, and particularly to the proposed 20% reduction in EU carbon emissions and the proposal that renewables form 20% of the Union's energy mix. “We all agreed that someone has to be the frontrunner in changing the world's climate and that is one of the obligations of the EU,” said the leader of the Party of European Socialists (PES) Poul Nyrup Rasmussen. “If we limit our political responsibility to 10%, who else in the world would take the flag,” asked Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, adding, “We are ready to do it in Europe at the minimum by 20%, and if there is a global agreement, we are ready to increase it up to 30%. It's our priority to play that avant garde role on ecological issues”. “What makes the difference between the Kyoto Protocol that has not been that successful thus far and what we are going to do now is that the Kyoto Protocol was mainly mentioning goals and headlines, but now we are mentioning goals and headlines, but also instruments and mechanisms that should lead to the fulfilling and the accomplishment of our goals,” he went on. “Our decision will put very strong political pressure on the other countries,” said Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev. Mr Rasmussen also said that Socialists and Social Democrat leaders gave their backing to a binding target on renewables. “Binding or not, it's better to have targets which are really abler to be implemented by every member state. This is easier to achieve on a European level than at national level,” Mr Stanishev added. When asked about nuclear power, the Austrian Chancellor pointed out that it had to be “a national decision”. He concluded, however, “There should be no European signal that the future green energy is nuclear energy”.
After the pre-summit meeting of leaders of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR), Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt told the press that Liberal leaders were of the same mind when it came to the necessity of adopting a triple 20% objective for 2020, namely: - unilateral reduction by the Union of 20% of its carbon emissions, a binding 20% target for the share of renewable energies in the Union's energy mix, and a 20°% objective for energy savings. Regarding climate change, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen gave his assurance that Liberal leaders would “work hard to keep the text as it stands”. The text confirms the Union's unilateral commitment to reduce its CO2 emissions by 20% and its willingness to put this up to 30% in the context of a post-Kyoto overall agreement. “We should not reopen the compromise reached during the Environment Council on 20 February but stick to it”, he added. When asked about the position adopted by the Liberal leaders on renewables, Mr Verhofstadt said “all Liberal leaders are in favour of a binding and very clear objective”. On the subject of unbundling (the separation of production and network activity of energy operators), the leader of the Danish government pointed out that this was “a crucial element in the liberalisation process”. “We must support the draft text established by the presidency on this point”, Mr Rasmussen went on. “I'd like to see other member states following the example set by the new member states where ownership unbundling has already been done”, Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu added ironically. (hb/eh)