WRITTEN QUESTION No. 4058/97 by Mirja RYYNÄNEN to the Commission. Ways of using the EU's trade policy to combat environmental pollution
17. 7. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 223/47 Joint answer to Written Questions E-4055/97 and E-0262/98 (11 May 1998) The situation regarding democracy and human rights in Turkey continues to be of concern to the Council. The European Council meeting in Luxembourg on 12 and 13 December 1997 again underlined the necessity for the Turkish Government to meet its fundamental obligations in the field of democracy and human rights. It recalled, in line with the Council position expressed at the Association Council with Turkey on 29 April 1997, that strengthening Turkeyís links with the EU also depended on that countryís pursuit of political reforms including the alignment of human rights standards and practices on those in the European Union. The situation regarding democracy and human rights in Turkey remains high on the Councilís agenda. These issues are brought up in virtually all meetings with the Turkish authorities. (98/C 223/56) WRITTEN QUESTION E-4058/97 by Mirja Ryyna¤nen (ELDR) to the Commission (14 January 1998) Subject: Ways of using the EUís trade policy to combat environmental pollution Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are rising alarmingly, and, over a period of decades, could cause changes, for example, in the direction of marine currents. Such currents in turn have a substantial influence on regional climate. At Kyoto, an effort is being made to introduce worldwide limits on carbon dioxide emissions by means of a voluntary agreement. However, the Rio Agreement shows that voluntary agreements have not been particularly effective. Has the Commission considered more effective methods of limiting emissions of carbon dioxide and other 1. greenhouse gases, for example trade policy incentives for countries whose carbon dioxide emissions are of an acceptable level? How is the EU taking efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions into account in the preparations for 2. enlargement to the East? Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (25 February 1998) The Commission shares the view that levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere are increasing too rapidly and will have a considerable impact on the planetís climate. This explains why the Community has taken such an active role in the development of a climate change policy within the Community and on the international stage. The voluntary commitment made at the Rio conference by industrialised countries to return their CO2 emissions to 1990 levels by 2000 has not been as effective as was expected, since a number of industrialised countries are unwilling to apply the necessary policies and take the measures to curb emissions. Fortunately, even though it is not yet possible to predict with certainty the result for the Community, on present trends it will be near to achieving its objective of stabilisation. Growing realisation that existing commitments were inadequate led to the Berlin mandate in which the parties agreed to negotiate an agreement giving industrialised countries legally binding emission reduction objectives. The result of this negotiation is the Kyoto Protocol which is a watershed because, for the first time, it embodies a legal commitment by industrialised countries to reduce their total emissions of greenhouse gases by around 5% by 2008-2012 compared to 1990. The Community has an emission reduction objective of 8% for this period