HOW will critics of the European Union respond to its success in securing agreement in Bonn for measures to reduce global warming and introduce the Kyoto Protocol? For make no mistake, this was an EU triumph.
In face of outright opposition from George Bush and corporate America, the EU not only held firm but led from the front. Thanks to the EU Environment Commissioner and her team, including Britain's Michael Meacher, we eventually secured the agreement of 38 industrial nations and 180 countries in all, for a package which allows us to take action ourselves without fear of being undermined by competitors refusing to do the same.
Given the scale of the climate change problem, the compromise agreed was weaker than I would have wished. However, the Montreal Protocol to save the ozone layer was also weak when first introduced, but has been much toughened since. The important thing is that a process of continual meetings and assessments has now been set in motion by which the Kyoto agreement can also be greatly strengthened in years to come.
In the wake of low election turn-outs, and violent protests in Genoa, these negotiations about such a crucial issue facing our planet left me proud to be involved in politics.
CHRIS DAVIES,
Lib Dem MEP.
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