Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-16-Speech-2-368"
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"en.20081216.37.2-368"2
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"−
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, my sincerest thanks go to the shadow rapporteurs for their excellent cooperation. I also want to thank the Commission and the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union for all their efforts.
I have to say, however, that I am not completely happy. The EU ought to have shown strong global leadership with this climate package. Unfortunately, that leadership was badly watered down when the French Presidency referred the decision for consensus by the Member States. Almost every prime minister went to the summit with the intention, based on national interests, of watering down the climate package, and indeed managed to. The outcome is of course a step forward, but a much, much smaller step than science is advising us to take.
The biggest problem with the Effort Sharing Decision is that the Member States are allowed all too freely to neglect their emission reductions at home and compensate for it by financing projects in developing countries. In the worst case scenario, this can simply lead to the stabilisation of emissions at home and keeping things as they are.
The outcome of the negotiations nevertheless preserves the sound basic structure of the Commission’s proposal: a linear development in emission reductions and binding annual ceilings for emissions, in EU legislation for the first time.
Furthermore, Parliament got through a number of important improvements that were based on the virtually unanimous report by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. I will next mention some of these. The 30% emissions reduction target will now appear in the legal text, following the international agreement. Member States will have to start planning more drastic action on reductions in emissions right away, and will also have to report back on them. Member States will be given a clear incentive to remain within their legal limits for emissions, as exceeding the limit will result in increased cuts in the following year’s quota. The quality criteria for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) credits will be tightened up. After the international agreement, the EU will commit to helping developing countries to reduce their emissions in such a way that climate change is limited to less than two degrees. There will be a time limit for restricting emissions from shipping. If the International Maritime Organization (IMO) does not conclude an international agreement by 2011, the EU will take its own legislative action.
These are all major improvements and they are based on the demands of Parliament. Accordingly, I recommend support for the entire package in the final vote, although, on the other hand, I also support the amendments by my group and by the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left to reduce the quota of CDM credits in a way that would guarantee that the majority of emission reductions would be made in Europe.
This decision, its good and bad aspects notwithstanding, means there will be wrangling in no uncertain terms about whether the EU should make emission reductions in a way that acknowledges the message of climate research and do so only after international talks on the agreement. Secondly, the decision means that it is the political responsibility of the Member States as to what volume of emission reductions should take place in Europe.
I appeal to the Member States not to outsource most of their emission reductions to developing countries, but to make green investments at home in public transport, railways and more energy-efficient buildings, and at the same time create ‘green collar’ jobs in Europe.
We have to remember that the earth does not make compromises. The planet’s ultimatums are absolute, and it is the most expensive option of all to water down and postpone emission reductions."@en1
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