Irish Christian Democrat MEP Avril Doyle, Finnish Green MEP Satu Hassi and UK Liberal MEP Chris Davies released statements in support of the agreement reached on the package by EU heads of state at an 11-12 December summit in Brussels (EurActiv 12/12/08).
The MEPs met with member-state and European Commission representatives over the weekend as part of informal 'trialogue' talks designed to facilitate rapid agreement on the range of measures contained in the climate proposals, tabled by the EU executive Commission on 23 January 2008.
Doyle, rapporteur on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) proposal, described the summit's outcome as "very good", while Davies, responsible for a proposal on a legal framework for the geological storage of CO2, expressed satisfaction that the deal would "set the foundations" for developing carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
Three hundred million EU ETS allowances will be made available for the construction of CCS demonstration plants, according to the summit deal (EurActiv 12/12/08). Davies and Doyle had pushed for 500 million allowances, but accepted the lower figure after extensive talks with member states.
Not all elements of the compromise reached during the summit were welcomed by the MEPs, however. A provision to allow member states to record more than half of their domestic emissions reductions obligations in areas not covered by the EU ETS through the financing of 'clean development' projects in third countries irked Hassi, rapporteur on the 'effort sharing' proposal, who hopes "governments behave in a responsible way and make sure that the major part of emissions reductions are achieved domestically".
The deal is now up for formal endorsement during a Parliament plenary vote in Strasbourg on 17 December. Green MEPs like Luxembourg's Claude Turmes and the UK's Caroline Lucas are expected to criticise the summit deal during the plenary session, where they have promised to push for changes to the compromise, notably with respect to the use of external emissions reduction credits.
Few observers expect a majority of parliamentarians to vote down or suggest significant changes to the compromise reached by national leaders.
