Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-14-Speech-3-042"
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"en.20070314.4.3-042"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, there is an obvious connection between the preceding debate on the Berlin Declaration and this one, since the Europe of results must be able to act and it will not be able to do so very effectively without a constitution. Mr President, we acknowledge the fact that the German Presidency led the Council to adopt quite clear, visible commitments on emissions cuts and renewable energies and to reject the pro-nuclear offensive from President Chirac. Mr Chirac is on the way out and you can be sure that we are not going to miss him at all.
Although we welcome the outcome reached at the summit – because things could have gone far worse – we believe that the difficulties are only just beginning, because when the time comes to translate our words into actions there will certainly be problem grey areas in meeting the targets. We should be aware straight away, for example, that cutting emissions unilaterally by 20% between now and 2020 will not enable us to meet the target of keeping the temperature rise down to less than 2°C. Mr Verheugen, I do not think that that constitutes a big, bold effort because, if we kept to our commitments on fair energy efficiency and renewables, that would already cut emissions by 24%. Thus a unilateral target of cutting emissions by 30% would have been perfectly feasible and would radically have raised our credibility on the international stage.
What is more, Commissioner, if I think of the role you have played in the issue of emissions cuts, renewables and cars, as well as the tremendous struggles that have taken place within the Commission on all these topics, your speech today sounded frankly like a bit of ‘greenwash’.
Achieving these targets means overcoming a great many adversaries, primarily many of our national government administrations, which are the real bureaucratic burden of the European Union, together with the Commission staff. Next, of course, are the major European industrial lobbies which, despite their fine words, are absolutely opposed to any real development of environmentally efficient renewable energies, because Enel, E.ON and EdF are all too well aware that reducing our dependency on fossil fuels means making European consumers much freer of them as well.
We await the Commission’s proposals with interest, of course, but also with some trepidation, because we are convinced that now is the time to be revolutionary and radical. That is why we shall be meeting in Berlin – and I hope, Mr Steinmeier, that you will be able to join us – in order to draw up a sound plan based on ten ideas that we have often put forward. The most important of them is a climate pact with the same features as the Stability and Growth Pact, setting out clear rules, firm and rapid sanctions and highly realistic incentives.
To conclude, Mr President, I should like to add that we are extremely concerned at the rumours circulating in the Council and the Commission that the new rules deriving from the commitments made by the Council of Brussels could be adopted under the procedure of Article 175(2), which excludes the European Parliament and requires unanimity in the Council. If that happened, it would be a slap in the face for all the European citizens who are so enthusiastic today. I hope that does not happen."@en1
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