The European Union should strengthen its fight against global warming, not weaken it in the face of the financial crisis, the head of the EU's executive said on Tuesday, Oct. 13 ahead of a major EU summit in Brussels. "Of course we understand that in financially difficult moments governments become defensive, but it is our duty to call the attention of governments and the public to responsibility," European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso told journalists. The EU has been "driving" the global climate debate, but there will be a "real problem of credibility for Europe at a time when we expect others to come closer to our position" if the bloc weakens its own targets, he warned. In March 2007 EU leaders pledged to cut the bloc's emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2, the gas most linked with global warming) to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. In January, the European Commission proposed laws detailing how this should be done.
"Of course we understand that in financially difficult moments governments become defensive, but it is our duty to call the attention of governments and the public to responsibility," European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso told journalists.
The EU has been "driving" the global climate debate, but there will be a "real problem of credibility for Europe at a time when we expect others to come closer to our position" if the bloc weakens its own targets, he warned.
In March 2007 EU leaders pledged to cut the bloc's emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2, the gas most linked with global warming) to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. In January, the European Commission proposed laws detailing how this should be done.
PM calls for EU-wide financial coordination Says climate change targets will not relaxed International institutions 'must be overhauled'
