It looks like the votes on the Emissions Trading Scheme and a report on emissions reductions in the environment committee today weren’t as bad as they could have been. None of the EU media seem to have picked up the story yet, but a Greens/EFA press release says that the committee vote “did not increase the ambition of the Commission’s proposal”, but it did keep a relatively useful auction allocation system for the trading scheme, and ring-fenced the proceeds of the auctions for fighting climate change, both in Europe and in developing countries.
On the emissions reduction report, the committee voted in favour, so when the EU goes to climate talks to develop a replacement for Kyoto, it hopefully won’t be subject to claims that it is asking poor countries to do all the work. I’m thinking the estimated €25 billion per year by 2020 for “climate protection in developing countries” will be of some help also.
As a side note, the Green press people down on Rue Wiertz may want to reconsider the choice of illustration for the press release. Ireland, the UK, Sweden and Finland haven’t left the Union yet, no matter how annoyed some “mainlanders” are with us “islanders”.
Tomorrow, probably to little fanfare, the EP will do something that it should be really good at. It will legislate on climate change. I say it should be really good at it, because environmental issues, which rarely respect national borders, are one of the things that the EU could almost have been designed to tackle.
Unfortunately though, short sighted politics have taken over again. Apparently, things will be better if we downgrade climate change as a priority problem, in line with the economic meltdown currently taking place. [rant] Do these stupid, heavy-industry loving MEPs not have any brains? What on earth do they think will happen to their economy when the unmitigated impacts of climate change really kick in?! [/rant] As good environmentalists, I’m sure we’ve all read the Stern Report cover to cover, and so know that action now will hurt a bit now, but nothing like inaction now will hurt later.
There is, at least, some minor hope. Stavros Dimas (Env. Commissioner) said that the financial crisis “is here one day and it is gone another day,” the “climate crisis will be there always and we must face it”.
You’ve probably guessed from previous posts that I’m just a little bit interested in the EU, so the European Parliament elections next year are occupying my mind a fair bit. Unfortunately, according to this Eurobarometer poll, they don’t seem to be doing the same for most people in the UK. When asked when they thought the EP elections would be held, 94% of British respondents didn’t know, and 62% said they were disinterested in the election. I’m pretty sure I’ve blogged about this before, but evidently the question of how to engage voters in the EP hasn’t been answered yet.
Anyway, it seems that the people who do vote will be planning to focus on the economy. Though, once the parties start their campaigns based on national issues, I have a feeling that people, in the UK at least, will forget about what the EU could do about economic issues, and have a go at Gordon instead. That is, if he still has a flat on Downing Street then.
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the torpedo amendments to the Telecoms Package which were going to be voted on by the EP. Well, they’ve been voted on, and for the Greens opposing them, it’s a bit of good news and a bit of bad. Amendments K1 and K2, which would have allowed spyware to be added to EU citizen’s computers to prevent intellectual property infringement, and would have breached citizen’s privacy by processing the data they sent over the Internet were voted down. But H1, H2 and H3 were carried, meaning that monitoring of data can take place for security reasons, and ISPs may have to work with digital-rights-holders to prevent infringements.
It isn’t exactly the end of the world, but if the Package gets through the Council of Ministers as it stands, the Net in Europe will likely be a little less free.
The Montreal Gazette is reporting that the Greens of Canada are considering using the courts to have their Party leader, Elizabeth May, included in televised debates for Federal elections. This comes at the same time as the Green Party in the US attempts to have presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney treated as a realistic candidate by the media and the two main parties, and also seeks a viable voter demographic.
Europe
Bulgaria is charging ahead to a brilliant atomic future with the construction of a second nuclear power plant in Belene. The project has strong backing from the European Commission, as part of a move to “low carbon” energy systems.
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In Sweden, the Green party, Miljöpartiet, is reconsidering its approach to the EU, with the possibility of dropping a section of their manifesto which calls for Sweden’s withdrawal from the Union. This follows from calls by the leader of Vänsterpartiet for green and left party co-operation in the 2010 general election.
The European Green Party has called for unconditional ceasefire in Georgia. The Co-operation & Development Network of young greens in Eastern Europe has also spoken against the conflict, and plans an action in Hungary to call for peace and remember those killed in the fighting.
Berlin Neo-Nazi Parade
A Neo-Nazi group in Berlin has announced plans for a protest march through an immigrant district, against the construction of a Hindu temple. Derek Wall blogs about it here, and a Facebook group has been formed also.
Party News
Ireland
Questions over the Lisbon Treaty rumble on in Ireland, as an email is sent to Party members, asking for their views on the controversial treaty. The Irish Times covers the story.
Meanwhile, there are concerns over changes to the student-finance system, with a demonstration being planned, involving the Irish Young Greens. Again, the Irish Times have the story.
UK
Caroline Lucas MEP featured in an article in The Independent on Monday, in which she answered questions from members of the public (and a few party members).
France has laid out plans for progress on environmental measures during its presidency of the European Union.
The EU is in the early stages of examining a ‘supergrid’ electricity distribution system to bring solar power from the Sahara to European states.
László Kovács, EU Taxation Commissioner, has supported the concept of windfall taxes on oil companies, to compensate the poor for high fuel costs.
Rules limiting power consumption for some electronic devices while on standby are expected to be approved by the EP later this year, probably taking force in 2010.
