EU-US Summit to Call for 'Urgent' Climate Action
Date: 01-May-07
Country: US
Author: Noah Barkin
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, making her first trip to Washington since assuming the presidency of the EU, hopes the joint statement will lay the groundwork for a broader deal on combating global warming at a June G8 summit she will host in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm.
The statement on energy security, efficiency and climate change will be presented alongside a broader "Transatlantic Economic Partnership" designed to cut costly non-tariff barriers to trade between the EU and United States.
Under that agreement, the partners will agree to harmonize regulatory standards and boost cooperation in areas including intellectual property, trade security, investment, financial markets and innovation.
A council led by EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen and White House economic adviser Allan Hubbard will be set up to monitor progress in aligning regulations and present annual reports to EU and US leaders.
In addition to the fixed agenda, Merkel and US President George W. Bush will hold talks on an array of international issues from Iran's nuclear programme to Middle East peace.
Russian relations have also been thrust to the forefront after a hawkish speech by President Vladimir Putin last week in which he denounced US plans to put a missile shield in central Europe and froze Moscow's commitments under a key arms treaty.
EU officials are worried another showdown with Moscow is looming over independence for breakaway Serbian province Kosovo.
Ahead of the summit, German officials painted the joint declaration on climate change - hammered out in over two months of tough negotiations -- as a significant rhetorical leap forward for the United States and the Bush administration.
The draft says the EU and US are committed to stabilizing greenhouse gases and acknowledges work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which released a report this month that said rising temperatures were changing the globe and could lead to more hunger, water shortages and extinctions.
The draft urges the development and commercialization of advanced technologies to "slow, stabilize and significantly cut" global emissions and promises a joint effort to deliver results at Heiligendamm and work constructively in the run-up to a key UN meeting on climate change in Bali, Indonesia in December.
On her fourth visit to Washington, the German chancellor has developed a close relationship with Bush, repairing ties which became badly strained when her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder clashed with him over the Iraq war.
But with less than six weeks to go until Heiligendamm, she faces a daunting task in persuading Bush to agree to broader, binding international steps to fight climate change.
German officials have also expressed concern the escalating Cold War-type showdown between Washington and Moscow over the missile shield and Kosovo could overshadow the June 6-8 summit.
Separately on Monday, the EU and United States will express a desire for prompt agreement on the Doha round of world trade talks, according to the draft. They are also due to sign an "open skies" aviation deal to boost transatlantic flights.
