Reinfeldt welcomes EU climate change unity
EU leaders were close on Thursday to agreeing to set binding targets for using renewable energy at an EU summit focused on climate change, the Swedish prime minister said.
"We have now historically been able to focus on long-term objectives to combat climate change," Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told journalists on the sidelines of the two-day summit in Brussels.
"We have also concluded that we need a target for a renewable energy supply that is binding," he said, adding that the German presidency of the European Union would circulate a text including the word "binding".
The question of whether to set a binding target for renewable energy had been the main point of contention ahead of the summit, where leaders were also hammering out plans for deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
"We are not far from an agreement if we add a few changes," said one EU official. "There are only two or three member states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, that are opposed to a binding target."
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"We have now historically been able to focus on long-term objectives to combat climate change," Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told journalists on the sidelines of the two-day summit in Brussels.
"We have also concluded that we need a target for a renewable energy supply that is binding," he said, adding that the German presidency of the European Union would circulate a text including the word "binding".
The question of whether to set a binding target for renewable energy had been the main point of contention ahead of the summit, where leaders were also hammering out plans for deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
"We are not far from an agreement if we add a few changes," said one EU official. "There are only two or three member states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, that are opposed to a binding target."
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