EU Troika stands firm after New York climate talks
The EU 'troika' for climate change is stressing its commitment to the Kyoto protocol following high level consultations on climate change in New York on 21 April. 'We have a responsibility towards future generations; science is indisputably convincing; and global issues require a global response,' says the troika, which includes Kjell Larsson, Sweden's environment minister and current president of the EU Council, Margot Wallström, EU Environment Commissioner, and Olivier Deleuze, Belgian state secretary for energy and sustainable development. Summarising the EU position, the troika said: 'The Kyoto protocol is well alive; we expect CoP 6bis (the convention on climate change) to lead to results which will make the protocol ratifiable; we stick to the target of EU ratification by Rio+10 2002 and call upon other parties to do the same; to this end, we intensify preparations for ratification and speed up work on the European Union's internal policies and measures, i.e. through the European climate change programme ECCP.' The troika expresses its disappointment over the USA's opposition to the protocol and expresses its firm hope that it will reconsider its position. Meanwhile, it has been touring countries around the world to rally support in order to help reach further agreement in Bonn in July. 'We call on all parties to be flexible in working out agreements over the coming months,' says the troika. Margot Wallström spoke frankly and positively about the talks at the Commission's 'Green week' event in Brussels on 24 April. 'Our criticism and the strong reaction from the rest of the world has affected the Americans,' she said. 'Not in the way that the government would back off from its position, but [the rest of the World's reaction] has created a political pressure...I think there is some embarrassment about this decision in the United States.' The Commissioner believes that the high profile of the Kyoto debate, which has been reported on the front pages of US newspapers for more than three weeks now, will have some influence over its forthcoming policy review, when the American administration will look again at environmental issues. Demonising the US position would be unhelpful, she added: 'We have to keep pressure on the Americans and offer them a way up from the hole they are digging themselves.'
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Sweden