EU's emissions targets are 'non-negotiable,' commission says

Sep 24, 2009, 14:51 GMT

Brussels - The European Union's limits on emissions of greenhouse gases are 'not negotiable,' a spokeswoman for the bloc's executive said Thursday, the day after the European Court struck down the limits for Estonia and Poland.

National limits on the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2, the gas most linked with global warming) are 'set and are normally not negotiable,' European Commission spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich told journalists in Brussels.

Her comment came a day after the European Court in Luxembourg annulled the commission's proposed caps on industrial emissions in Poland and Estonia, saying that the Brussels-based executive did not have the right to overrule national governments.

And it followed a letter to the commission from Italy's premier Silvio Berlusconi, which reportedly called for a review of Italy's national emissions cap for the period 2008-2012.

The EU has pledged to cut CO2 emissions to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, but Berlusconi is one of a number of leaders to have criticized that goal, saying that it will make European industry uncompetitive.

Apart from Poland and Estonia, six other EU members have already challenged their caps in court. Italy is not one of them.

EU officials say that they fear that Wednesday's court ruling could lead other member states to question the level of their national caps.

The commission is currently waiting for Poland and Estonia to propose new national limits, Helfferich said. It has not yet decided whether to appeal the court ruling.