Onlookers have been speculating that the EU's climate and energy package is in "deep trouble" as concerns about major economic recession eclipse those relating to global warming.
But, in an interview with EurActiv, Hassi said she was still "quite hopeful" that the vote in the environment committee today (7 October) would be "much better in terms of the EU's climate ambitions" than last month's vote in the industry and energy committee.
"To be honest, most people who prepared this ITRE vote [...] are not very familiar with the whole subject," she said, claiming that this was the main explanation for a vote in favour of shifting the base year [or reference year] for measuring countries' CO2 emissions to 1990 rather than 2005.
The base year change is supported by a number of eastern EU countries as a means of taking into account the emission cuts they have achieved since 1990, thereby enabling them to make fewer cuts from now on.
But Hassi rejected the notion that either the Parliament or the Council would change it. On the other hand, she did not rule out "fine-tuning", notably to ensure that no member country has higher emissions in 2020 than it did in 1990, she said, pointing to Portugal and Spain, which have increased their emissions "a lot" since then.
In any case, according to Hassi, the base year and individual country targets are something for member states to sort out between themselves. "There is no realistic capacity to produce in the Parliament any sensible alternative to the percentages," she said.
Nevertheless, the MEP will be pushing for a cross-party compromise that would give countries far less scope to meet their EU caps on CO2 more cheaply by paying for emissions cuts in developing countries via the so-called 'Clean Development Mechanism' (CDM).
The CDM has been much criticised for failing to contribute significantly to global CO2 reductions and Hassi believes that member states should be required to achieve their targets by increasing trade among themselves, thereby keeping investment in Europe.
"It seems that the compromise which is very close to being agreed comprises the basic idea that increased flexibility means the possibility of emissions reductions trading between the member countries, but more caution with respect to Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)," she said.
However, the move is likely to displease countries like the UK, which insists the CDM "provides member states with a cost-effective means to meet their obligations and is an important flexibility mechanism" and has suggested that the scheme be expanded (EurActiv 18/09/08).
