Opposition to EU climate plans

By Jennifer Rankin 05.03.2009 Europeanvoice.com

EU policies on agriculture, transport and overseas aid may need to be overhauled to deal with unavoidable climate change, according to an early draft paper from the European Commission’s environment department. The draft has run into opposition from other Commission departments and is likely to be changed before a final version is launched on 2 April.

The most serious debate is with the Commission’s agriculture department, which believes it is already doing enough to ‘green’ its policy, and resents suggestions that the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) needs to discourage “unsustainable practices” such as growing water-thirsty crops in arid regions. Officials there also oppose making specific proposals prematurely, for fear of pre-empting the debate on reforming the CAP after 2013.

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