Germany's Glos mulls complaint on EU emission plan
Source: Reuters
(Adds German government sources, paragraphs 8-9) By Dave Graham and Vera Eckert BERLIN, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Germany's Economy Ministry said on Tuesday it was considering a complaint against European Commission plans to impose tougher quotas on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, but the Environment Ministry rejected the idea. "I've instructed my ministry to examine legal measures which will stop this for the time being," Economy Minister Michael Glos said in a speech at an energy conference in Berlin. Glos added, however, that no decision had been made on the matter and that the inquiry was merely a precautionary step. In Brussels, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who has clashed with Glos in the past on energy policy, said he did not think it was a good idea to take legal action. The conflicting views of Glos, a conservative, and Gabriel, a Social Democrat, underline the difficulty Germany's right-left "grand coalition" may face in reaching agreement on key areas of policy during its EU presidency. Glos said he was concerned that the dispute might interfere with Germany's 6-month presidency of the European Union, which began on Jan. 1, but that he had no choice given that the country was against the Commission's demands. It was unfair to expect too much of Germany in cutting emissions when a number of EU signatories of the Kyoto protocol were not fulfilling their obligations, he said. But several German government sources told Reuters that Berlin's threats of legal action have had no impact on the European Commission. "The EU hasn't budged," one official said. Deputy Environment Minister Matthias Machnig and Deputy Economy Minister Joachim Wuermeling were in Brussels on Monday but failed to win support for Germany's position, sources said. Gabriel said he did not think it was Chancellor Angela Merkel's wish to sue the Commission over the allocation plan while Germany made climate change one of the key issues of its twin presidency of the EU and Group of Eight nations. Wulf Bernotat, chief executive of German utility E.ON <EONG.DE>, told reporters at the Berlin conference the Commission's emissions demands were "technically impossible." Bernotat noted that the EU executive's plans meant utilities would have to buy extra carbon emission certificates. "And it's questionable whether those would be available on the market," he said, adding this would boost CO2 emission rights prices and hence power prices, thereby hurting consumers. CARTEL LAW Earlier this year, the European Commission unveiled what it said were the world's most ambitious targets for fighting climate change, proposing the EU cut greenhouse gases by at least 20 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. The new plan goes beyond an existing target for an eight percent cut in emissions from 1990 levels in the 2008-2012 period adopted by the 15 members of the EU before its 2004 enlargement and which several countries are struggling to meet. The energy plan must now be approved by EU governments. Glos, who has often said electricity prices are too high but still tried to protect the interests of industry, said planned changes to Germany's cartel law aimed at curbing the dominance of top utilities would likely only be effective until 2012. He added that he wanted Germany to put an end to subsidies for coal mining, saying it was too expensive to justify. (additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Brussels and Markus Wacket in Berlin)
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
