Klimaatverandering: ambitieus programma van tijdelijke EP-commissie (en)
Get down to work straight away, find practical solutions, win public trust and support: these are the aims of the members of the European Parliament temporary committee of inquiry into climate change, which held its first public meeting on Thursday. Rapporteur Karl-Heinz Florenz (EPP-ED, DE) presented a wide-ranging work programme for the committee, which has a year to complete its work.
The Bali Conference in December 2007 on the future of the Kyoto Protocol and the EU summit on energy and climate change in spring 2008 will be among the main topics on the agenda of the "CLIM" committee, whose mandate lasts a year (although it could be extended by six months). The primary sources of global emissions, the impact of climate change on international security, the exploitation of land and forests, the sensitivity of society to these issues are some of the subjects for discussion and action proposed in the work programme.
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Unlike previous temporary committees set up by the European Parliament, the CLIM committee is not expected to restrict itself to a single report, since climate change cuts across many Community policies. The committee chair, Guido Sacconi (PES, IT), announced that the committee would also deal with reports covered on a sectoral basis by other parliamentary committees, including an own-initiative report on limiting global warming initially allocated to the Environment Committee. A series of public hearings and conferences (the first in November) and an "agora" (a parliamentary meeting with civil society) on energy and climate change are also among the committee's plans.
"I have no intention of encroaching on the work of the Environment Committee, the Industry and Energy Committee, the Agriculture Committee or any others. On the contrary, I should like to see a real dialogue between the committees instead of the series of monologues we get at present", stressed Karl-Heinz Florenz, who will draft the committee's final report. Vittorio Prodi (ALDE, IT), elected on Thursday as first vice-chair of the committee, said the CLIM committee should set up a framework for cooperation with several committees. He also mentioned the informal discussions with Commissioner Andris Piebalgs on creating a working party at the European Commission which would be the direct point of contact for CLIM, so that the two institutions can coordinate their action on practical projects and implement them more quickly.
MEPs welcomed the work programme presented by Mr Florenz and also made proposals to broaden its scope, for example by taking account of greenhouse gases other than CO2 as well as deforestation, "climate diplomacy", transport and housing, and new technologies. Several MEPs also highlighted the importance of the "social dimension" of the measures to be taken to combat climate change.
They also agreed to respond swiftly to events linked to the fight against global warming, starting with an assessment of the outcome of the G8 conference, which was taking place simultaneously in Heiligendamm, at their next meeting, which takes place on 18 June in Strasbourg.
04/06/2007
Temporary Committee on Climate Change
Chair : Guido SACCONI (PES, IT)
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