Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-14-Speech-3-045"
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"en.20070314.4.3-045"2
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"Mr President, we too regard the EU Summit as positive, but more in terms of its desires than its results. On the one hand it is good and important for the future of all of us that climate protection targets were agreed at the EU Summit, but on the other hand it is, alas, the case that such declarations are unfortunately often not even worth the paper they are written on. What is the point of agreeing to reduce CO2 emissions by a fifth by 2020 if the practical and problematic details are, in usual EU style, put off until later. Moreover, I do not think that we have made any progress at all on nuclear power. The question of how to dispose of radioactive waste remains unresolved, the safety of nuclear power stations is not guaranteed and the effects of nuclear radiation are not at all fully understood. Nevertheless, the EU Summit did not manage to send out a clear signal by reducing nuclear energy. Instead the danger of global warming is supposed to be countered with a nuclear risk, which I believe is a perilous business.
It is of course all well and good if the EU wishes to play a leading role in climate protection. However, it is only responsible for 15% of global carbon dioxide emissions, which is just the tip of the iceberg. On our own, without the major climate culprits, India, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia and the United States which are responsible for almost half of global greenhouse gas production, we will hardly be able to make progress in the battle against climate change. On the contrary, we will pay a hefty price for all our efforts. You do not need a prophet to tell you that.
The fact that the developing countries, but also and above all the energy-squandering USA, could not care less about the environment, is well known. Even on US Army bases in Europe no respect is shown for the environment and abandoned US bases are almost akin to hazardous waste depots. This is a scandal, not only for the Americans, whom it seems really do need to be taken in hand in this respect, but above all for the EU Member States, who have not prescribed any technical environmental conditions. This is another context in which critical questions need to be asked about transatlantic relations, just as they do in respect of CIA overflights and our overall tendency, all too blind with euphoria, to be the Americans’ vassals.
As early as 1997 the industrialised countries committed themselves to reducing the quantity of greenhouse gases that they produce. At the 2005 UN Climate Change Conference there was once again praise for moves to invest more in solar, wind and hydroelectric energy from then on. Of course once again these noble words have been followed by scant action. The EU imposed its own target to increase the share of renewable energy to 12% but has achieved only 8%. That is why there is no need to celebrate renewed verbal declarations, like the ones we have just heard again, as such a great success. Instead we are reminded of other EU initiatives that have failed thus far such as the Lisbon objectives, which we are also still light years away from achieving, quite apart from the barely implemented Alpine Convention, which is a further act in this tragedy. If we are to slow down climate change and mitigate its impending serious consequences we must all direct our efforts towards achieving the objectives that we have set."@en1
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