Press Release: EU reaction to the speech by US President Bush on climate change

In reaction to a speech on climate change by US President Bush on 12 June 2001, the Swedish Environment Minister Kjell Larsson, representing the EU Presidency, said: 'We regret that President Bush continues to reject the Kyoto Protocol. Abandoning the Kyoto Protocol would mean postponing international action to combat climate change for years - and we are already late. We can not accept this. The EU ministers have therefore confirmed that they stand firm behind the Kyoto Protocol and are ready to proceed with the ratification of it. Without the US the Protocol will be less effective of course since they account for a large part of world emissions'. The EU remains convinced that the industrialised world has to take the lead and reaffirms its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol and to its ratification and entry into force by 2002.