EU TO RE-CHECK AUSTRIA EMISSIONS DATA - BARROSO
04.10.07 - Leído 66 veces. Enviar esta notaEuropean Commission and Austrian experts will re-check data that led Brussels to order Vienna to reduce its proposed limit on industrial emissions in 2008-2012, the Commission’s president said on Wednesday
BRUSSELS, Belgium; April 10, 2007.- But Jose Manuel Barroso said the European Union executive cannot make an exception for Vienna in its efforts to shore up the emissions trading scheme, the 27-nation bloc’s key tool to fight climate change under the Kyoto Protocol.
Speaking after talks with Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, Barroso said the credibility of the EU’s fledgling trading scheme was at stake and the Commission could not bend to special national circumstances.
On Monday the Commission set Austria’s cap on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2008-2012 at 30.7 million tonnes annually, a 6.4 percent reduction from the government’s proposal.
Austria was the 15th country to face a decision by the Commission to tighten its proposed CO2 limits.
“We cannot review the decisions. Let’s put it frankly, because it is (about) the credibility of the trading scheme,” Barroso said told reporters.
“We cannot have one methodology for one country and another for another one. What we can do is look at all the expert figures and see if there are any mistakes,” he said.
Gusenbauer made clear he did not expect Austria to appeal the Commission’s decision to the European Court of Justice.
“We are in a constructive dialogue that should not be answered with a lawsuit,” he said.
“It makes sense for the Commission experts and our government experts to look at the calculation once again, because we think the mechanism should be the same for all but that our new climate strategy contained elements that haven’t been sufficiently credited,” the chancellor said.
“If it leads to a positive change, that’s OK, and if it doesn’t lead to a change, then at least we’ll have tried everything to get an optimal result for Austria.”
(Reuters)
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