Turmes attacks Council’s ‘Sarkozy show’

One of the MEPs who will be drafting the European Parliament's response to the Commission's proposals for laws on climate change and energy has hit back at pressure to conclude an early agreement with the Council of Ministers.

EU leaders want to adopt an ambitious package of laws on cutting Europe's carbon emissions before the end of the current Parliamentary term in June 2009. The French government, which will hold the presidency of the Council of Ministers in the second half of 2008, is aiming for a political agreement by the end of its stint.

But Claude Turmes, a Luxembourgeois Green MEP who will be drafting the Parliament's position on renewables, said that the French wanted "a 'Sarkozy show' on climate change" so were pushing for a first reading agreement on the four issues of the climate package during the French presidency. Such a deal, he said, would put the Council in the driving seat and weaken MEPs' negotiating positions.

Hans-Gert Pšttering, the president of the Parliament, wrote to the heads of political groups last week (15 February), urging them to speed up their work and complete their reports by December 2008.

The chairs of the Parliament's environment and industry committees, Czech Miroslav Ouzky and German Angelika Niebler, both of the centre-right EPP-ED group, have met to discuss how to co-ordinate their work to ensure smooth passage of the laws.

Ouzky said he was "nearly sure" of getting political agreement at first reading, but thought there would be enough time to do a second reading if required. Danish Socialist MEP Dan J¿rgensen said a second reading agreement would be "almost impossible", but considered a good first reading agreement was feasible because the package was so important.

Chris Davies, a UK Liberal Democrat MEP, said: "I think it is imperative to ensure it [the package] is on the statute book before the end of the Parliamentary term."

On Wednesday (20 February) MEPs on the environment committee decided on the sharing of the climate and energy dossiers between the political groups. The emissions trading scheme goes to the EPP-ED, carbon dioxide and cars to the Socialists, carbon capture and storage to the Liberal Democrat (ALDE) group. The Greens will lead on the burden-sharing of emissions cuts between member states, having played, as one Parliament source put it, "a real poker game". The industry committee has already decided that Turmes will be leading on the renewables directive for the Greens.

One of the MEPs who will be drafting the European Parliament's response to the Commission's proposals for laws on climate change and energy has hit back at pressure to conclude an early agreement with the Council of Ministers.