“Comprehensive deliberations” between Council and Parliament on the Commission’s proposals should produce a deal “before the end of 2008 and consequently allow for their adoption within the current legislative term, at the latest early in 2009”, according to conclusions agreed during the Spring European Council in Brussels on 14 March.
With a major international meeting on climate change scheduled for Copenhagen in December 2009, the EU is under pressure to agree internally on how to deal with the threat of climate change before pushing other states to agree a post-2012 global climate deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
But member states still need to iron out a number of differences before they can present a united front in Copenhagen.
While the Commission's proposals have been generally welcomed by national capitals (EurActiv 29/02/08 and 04/03/08), differences remain over how CO2 reduction and renewable energy efforts are to be divided between EU countries.
And Europe's energy-intensive industries have put pressure on key member states, notably Germany, to get insurances from Brussels that their global competitiveness will not be undermined by the EU's tightening 'carbon belt'.
The argument put forward is that sectors like steel, cement and aliminium will be forced to take their operations outside of Europe if other states do not adhere to binding greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction measures. This would result in major job losses and so-called 'carbon leakage', meaning an increase in GHG emissions outside of the EU's borders.
German chancellor Angela Merkel made industry's case during the summit on 13 March, and pushed for the inclusion of specific language in the Council's conclusions: "The European Council recognises that carbon leakage in energy-intensive sectors exposed to international competition needs to be addressed urgently" (EurActv 13/03/08).
The conclusions do address the apparent urgency of the matter. But the text also notes that "an international agreement remains the best way of addressing this issue", a reflection of the Commission's position.
Commission President José Manuel Barroso on 14 March pledged that "clear assurances" will be made to energy-intensive in the post-2012 period of the Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS).
But Brussels remains optimistic a global deal can be reached, and will not elaborate until 2010 any details about what kind of protective measures would be applied in case international negotiations fail.
