Ingrid Melander and Pete Harrison, PlanetArk 17 Oct 08;
BRUSSELS - European Union leaders planned on Thursday to appease critics of the bloc's bold plans to fight climate change amid economic turmoil with concessions to heavy industry and former communist nations.
But they were set to reaffirm a December deadline and stick to their ambitious targets of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by a fifth by 2020 at a summit overshadowed by tumbling stockmarkets and the threat of a punishing recession.
"The European Council confirms its determination to honour the ambitious commitments it has made on climate and energy policy," said the draft final statement circulated to leaders at the final session of a two-day summit and obtained by Reuters.
"In this connection, it reaffirms that its objective is to reach agreement in December," said the text, which could still be changed by leaders.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged other leaders to push for a deal by December, and Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauaer warned of difficult negotiations ahead to win over the plan's critics.
"We've got two months for intensive work," he said. "It's often that way in Europe -- that people yearn for national measures and then we agree on something on a European level."
During combative discussions on Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk threatened to use his veto unless more was done to shield Poland's coal-based economy from the impact of the measures.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also dangled a veto threat to demand more time to negotiate the package and less burden on Italian industry, already plagued by a loss of competitiveness to emerging economies.
CRISIS
In deference to these critics, the draft called for quick work on "applying that package in a rigorously established cost- effective manner to all sectors of the European economy and all member states, having regard to each member state's specific situation".
Rafal Grupinski, senior aide to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, said: "In the conclusions, we expect that either there is no December date for agreement or, if there is the date, that our proposals are accepted and the specificity of our country and other countries will be taken into account."
The 27-nation bloc aims to lead the world in battling global warming, mindful of UN predictions of more extreme weather and rising sea levels.
The economic crisis pushed climate change down the agenda of the summit, but some western European leaders argued fighting climate change could go hand in hand with efforts to rebuild economies while cutting risks from volatile energy imports.
European companies could lead the world by exporting technologies from a new low-carbon economy -- such as electric cars and wind turbines -- while green jobs could replace all those lost in old economy industries like steel, they said.
But environmentalists said that while EU leaders including French President Nicolas Sarkozy were busy making big promises to protect the environment in public, their ministers and advisers were busy creating loopholes in the legislation to protect industries at home.
"Mr Sarkozy and others are showing that they are unwilling to walk the walk when it comes to decisive action," said Greenpeace spokesman Mark Breddy. (Reporting by Ingrid Melander, writing by Pete Harrison; editing by Paul Taylor)
