States face rap for late NAPs

The European Commission is talking tough just hours ahead of the deadline for governments to send new CO2 emission reduction plans to Brussels.

The national allocation plans (NAPs) setting the framework for EU CO2 emission trading after 2007 are due on Friday (30 June). So far no member states have submitted final proposals.

Seventeen countries missed a deadline to submit first-round national allocation plans for the period 2005-08 two years ago but no legal action was taken.

With just 11 draft plans in so far and no final NAPs, the Commission is warning things will be different this time.

"We expect the plans will be in by Friday," said an environment department spokeswoman. "If they are not, [Environment Commissioner Stavros] Dimas has made it clear he will be very tough this time, using the full force of the law if we have to."

The drafts in so far include six countries from the EU15, three from the new member states (EU10), and Bulgaria which, along with Romania, is required to send in a plan before full membership of the EU, scheduled for next year.

"A month ago we sent all 25 member states a reminder that plans were due in on 30 June. It wasn't a letter of warning, just a nudge, and the indications since then are that we will get the plans," added the spokeswoman.

Sources said that the UK and Germany might just get their proposals in on time. Sweden and Spain have said theirs will arrive in early July.

Italy and Greece, which both submitted their first round NAPs almost a year late, have shown no sign of being better prepared this time.

But conservation groups say the Commission should be concentrating on the content of the NAPs more than the timing.

Signals so far from member states suggest that many governments will propose a slight increase in the emission allocations starting in 2008. Germany may suggest cutting its emission quota but, say environmentalists, the overall reduction from first round levels looks likely to fall far short of the 6% recommended by the Commission.

Environmental groups Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, WWF and CAN Europe claim a cut of at least 9% is needed to mitigate dangerous global warming.

The Commission has three months to approve or reject NAPs once they are in.

The European Commission is talking tough just hours ahead of the deadline for governments to send new CO2 emission reduction plans to Brussels.