European Commission Splits Over Kyoto Protocol

BRUSSELS, Belgium, February 2, 2004 (ENS) - EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom has fiercely criticized Energy and Transport Commissioner Vice President Loyola de Palacio and the Spanish government for "undermining" Europe's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Briefing journalists on Friday, Wallstrom defended the Kyoto Protocol and said she remains convinced that Russia would ratify the agreement to limit greenhouse gases, enabling the protocol to enter into force.

"I find it astonishing at a time when we are getting industry on board and have an active policy ... politicians start to dither. Now is not the time to undermine our policy," said Wallstrom.

The EU's environmental policy chief called the briefing to respond to increasingly robust questioning of the Kyoto Protocol by the Spanish government and Palacio - herself Spanish and a political ally of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

Both Spanish officials have expressed concerns over the economic costs of limiting greenhouse gases in line with the treaty. Palacio has questioned the wisdom of implementing Kyoto at all if Russia does not ratify.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, (left) EU President Romano Prodi, and EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom in Brussels on January 28, 2004. (Photo courtesy European Commission)

Now Wallstrom has rebuked her as well, claiming that de Palacio is isolated within the European Commission on the issue.

"It's not helpful if colleagues start to question it," she said. "If Loyola has a personal view - which I think she has - she should make a distinction between it and the EU view."

"Repeated discussions" on Kyoto within the Commission had yielded "overwhelming support," Wallstrom added.

Wallstrom also repeated her conviction that Russia would ratify the protocol after presidential elections in March. The impression that it is having second thoughts is largely due to one rogue governmental advisor, she said, adding that the prospect of Kyoto triggered investment in the country's energy infrastructure would be too attractive to resist.

And she dismissed the possibility of Russia holding the European Union to ransom by promising ratification in return for help in joining the World Trade Organization, a scenario raised by EU Enlargement Commissioner Gunther Verheugen this week. "They'll not succeed - our trade people are not interested in that and I don't see how it could happen," she said.

The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was ratified by the European Union and its Member States on May 31, 2002. In the meantime 120 Parties have ratified representing two-thirds of the world's population.

Under the rules of the Protocol and following the decision by the United States not to ratify, the Protocol will enter into force once Russia has ratified.

Energy and Transport Commissioner Vice President Loyola de Palacio of Spain (Photo courtesy )

"We need to look at other possible scenarios," Palaciao said in December after a meeting of EU energy ministers.

The EU as well as the member states have already taken some measures to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases. Between 1990 and 2001, EU greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 2.3 percent, although emissions increased both in 2000 and 2001 and projections show that further emission reduction measures will be required to allow the EU to reach its eight percent emission reduction target.

Measures taken by the European Union to reduce greenhouse gas emissions include the promotion of electricity from renewables and of biofuels, increased energy efficiency of buildings and passenger cars, and emissions trading between large industrial installations.

{Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily, Europe's choice for environmental news. Environmental Data Services Ltd, London. Email: envdaily@ends.co.uk}