Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-29-Speech-3-033"
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". – Madam President, thank you for your support and a special thanks to the European Parliamentary delegation who were there in The Hague. I actually remember meeting Mrs Corbey, who was there the whole time, going to a session at 5.30 one morning. You were all very supportive during the session and I thank you for that.
We sometimes discuss the climate change issue as if its effects will only be felt in the long term by our children and grandchildren. However, climate change has already happened, it is already there. The ice caps are measurably melting. Small island states in the Pacific are slowly disappearing because of the rise in sea level. We see the effects in our everyday lives. Even though the experts are very careful not to say that any particular storm or extreme weather condition is due to climate change, we will see more extreme weather as climate change continues. So it is also for us. Of course it is an issue for coming generations, but it is a fact, especially for people living in poor countries, as has also been said.
What can we do now? Now is not the time to apportion blame or to point fingers. Now is the time to decide that we cannot fail once more. Failing to achieve an agreement at the next COP6 meeting is not an option. I am quite optimistic because I felt we came so close and that all the ministers there understand that a five per cent reduction as in the Kyoto Protocol is only a small part of the commitment we will have to make for the future. This is only the start. Maybe we should not be too worried about taking a little more time, a few months more, to decide on the rules and the framework, the legal framework, that must be put in place in order to operate the huge economic market that will be created. Of course we need some clear operational rules to regulate an emissions trading market worth twelve billion dollars. We had too much left on the table for these negotiations and we will have to try to sort that out. We will have to make our own assessment of what happened, and prepare the documents to make contacts with different parties, and of course with the “umbrella group”. It is very much up to the American administration to tell us with whom we should speak. We will also have to continue our contacts with developing countries. That is how we can take this issue forward constructively.
Now let me just answer the questions on whether we were flexible. Sometimes these negotiations are extremely chaotic, and I think that you can always go home and look back saying that we made this mistake or that mistake. However, for the environment ministers present at The Hague, and you know we have also set the tone here, the main objectives were to defend the credibility and integrity of the Kyoto Protocol. So we would not allow any creative accounting on, for example, certain issues. The Americans presented us with a proposal that would have reduced their commitment by between 70 and 90 per cent. We simply could not accept that. Should we lower our ambitions when we know we need to do more? At the same time, we made concessions. We opened up discussions on what we had earlier said were big loopholes, or potentially of big loopholes.
We were very constructive and we negotiated until the last minute of these talks in The Hague. We will continue to be willing to make concessions, but I think we were flexible while at the same time defending our main objectives, and we should continue to do that. We now know what kind of questions we will have on the table for this last part. I am hopeful, I really think that the awareness is there. All ministers know that they cannot escape this huge task of combating climate change; this was also clear from the meeting in The Hague. We will do everything to be able to turn this into an agreement and actually be able to sign it. Of course the follow up of the next COP6 or the continuation of COP6 will be to ratify an agreement inside the Union. We can start emissions trading earlier. We can take a lot of measures, which the Commission will propose. As soon as we get the chance, as soon as the legal framework is in place, we will move.
I again thank you for this debate. I have taken note of everything that has been said, we will of course follow up and be willing to come back whenever Parliament asks us to.
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