Poland vetoes EU energy directive
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
17.06.2012 11:31
EU energy ministers meeting in Luxembourg failed to adopt a last-minute deal to save the energy-efficiency directive aimed at cutting CO2 emisisons and achieving energy savings of 80 percent by 2050 due to a Polish veto in the matter.
East News
Poland, which is heavily dependent on coal and has been a staunch opponent of the EU’s climate policies since it joined the bloc in 2004, was represented at the meeting by deputy PM and economy minister Waldemar Pawlak.
The so-called 2050 energy roadmap offers solutions for the bloc’s energy mix over the next few decades.
Among them are options aimed at significantly reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and increasing the share of renewable energy in the mix beyond 2020.
According to The European Voice, Poland wanted to change the wording of these options to make them “more friendly” to coal and gas.
Poland has already vetoed the 2050 roadmap once, saying there is no sufficient research or data that would allow to move further on the climate agenda.
The country also maintains that the EU should not adopt any new binding targets unless the world's other top emitters like China, Russia or the United States agree to a global climate deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
This was the last meeting devoted to the issue during the Danish EU presidency, whose six-month term ends at the end of this month. The next holder, Cyprus, has already announced energy will not be included in its agenda. (di/jb)