Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-10-Speech-4-018"
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"en.20021010.1.4-018"2
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"Mr President, the European Union can be justly proud of its efforts to meet the commitments entered into at Kyoto. It is a pity that the US has not lived up to its responsibilities. In this respect, I hope the Commission will continue its efforts on the international scene to impress upon the US the necessity to come on board on this vital issue.
This is the first piece of legislation proposed by the Commission since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol which combines pollution control with savings of EUR 1.3 billion in the annual costs of our Kyoto commitments. I commend the Commission for its proposal which phases in the directive in an acceptable way and which will allow industry the necessary time to adapt to the system by not shirking our bottom-line responsibility. I also praise the rapporteur for his excellent work and his highly technical dossier. I believe that the Environment Committee has in this instance made a valuable contribution to the original Commission proposal.
I fully support the committee's enhancement of the directive. Where the original proposal was limited to CO2, I am pleased that we in Parliament are more ambitious and intend to extend the scope of application to all other greenhouse gases. Such action would clearly demonstrate the EU's determination to make real and tangible progress on this all-important issue.
I also welcome the expansion of the directive to include other sectors such as the chemical and aluminium sectors. I would highlight one special case in this regard: the situation of the lime industry. As lime and dolime can only be produced by removing existing CO2 from limestone and dolomite, there is no way of reducing the CO2 emissions. For this reason, my group has tabled an amendment which proposes excluding lime and dolime production from the gas emissions trading scheme. The industry would still be subject to monitoring, reporting and verification requirements. I would also ask colleagues to consider this particular situation and support our amendment, which is number 89.
The initial voluntary phase of this scheme is important and I hope that Member States would actively encourage maximum participation across sectors. It is also vital that the directive be mandatory from 2008 so as to hold out a concrete, tangible target which will help to focus minds.
In conclusion, I would make a general comment about the contribution of the EU to improving environmental awareness and protection. As an Irish Member, I am all too aware that the overwhelming majority of environmental legislation, as well as attitude changes, are a direct result of our membership of the European Union. In this case, as in so many other policy areas, the EU has touched in a positive way on every aspect of the lives of our citizens. To maximise the potential of our work in this crucial area, we look forward to its extension to the countries of central and eastern Europe. In this regard, I anticipate with some enthusiasm a positive response by the Irish people to the Treaty of Nice."@en1
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