By Martin Banks - 29th March 2010
Heads of state once again failed to deliver
Sonja Meister
Europe's political leaders have been accused of "once again failing to deliver" on a range of policy pledges, ranging from poverty reduction to climate change.
The attack, by different European NGO groups, comes after last week's EU summit in Brussels.
The summit primarily dealt with the Greek budget deficit, but there were other issues up for discussion among the 27 leaders at the two-day gathering.
The summit agreed to a Greek rescue package but, on Germany's insistence, the mechanism will only be used as a last resort with the IMF contributing to about a third of the total.
Social justice NGO Solidar said it was "very disappointed by this lack of solidarity from Germany" which it said is "endangering the European social model".
The gathering on Thursday and Friday was also the first time European leaders had met formally since the disappointment of December's Copenhagen talks and Friends of the Earth Europe said it had failed to "breathe much-needed new life" into efforts to combat climate change.
No new action was agreed at the summit which assessed the state of play post-Copenhagen with leaders EU merely restating their target of 20 per cent emissions reductions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, with a conditional offer of 30 per cent cuts if other countries increase their commitments.
Sonja Meister, climate campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe, said, "These figures are not consistent with what science and climate justice demand, and will not help achieve progress in international negotiations."
She said, "Heads of state once again failed to deliver Europe's fair share of the finances needed to enable developing countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
"The meeting simply repeated the insufficient offers of €2.4bn short term finance, mostly repackaged development aid."
She said the summit "did not seize the opportunity" to make progress on "innovative revenue-raising measures" such as a financial transaction tax which, she said, "could deliver hundreds of billions of euros annually for fighting climate change and other global issues".
"When talking about climate change the EU sounds like a stuck record. The EU is right that pledges made since Copenhagen are not enough to limit climate change to safe levels and more ambition is needed.
"But Europe has failed to do its homework and must step up its own target to at least 40 per cent cuts within the EU by 2020.
"Europe must find a way to deliver new additional money to pay for its fair share of climate finance for developing countries.
"Instead of continuing to table lump sums of mainly repackaged development aid, and relying on promised miracles from carbon markets, they should agree to push internationally for innovative measures such as a financial transaction tax which would deliver hundreds of billions of Euros per year to tackle climate change and other urgent causes."
The Brussels-based European Environmental Bureau said it was "deeply disappointed with the poor start" EU leaders gave to the recently-launched EU 2020 strategy.
Secretary general John Hontelez said, "At a time when we are seeing a great deal of focus on the economic deficit in Greece, there appears to be little concern about ensuring that EU 2020 steers the EU away from the massive ecological deficit it is collectively running.
"The summit changed the motto from 'smart, sustainable and inclusive growth' to the old Lisbon mantra of 'jobs and growth'. They make it appear as if there is no environmental crisis to be resolved.
"Amazingly, there is no mention of fighting climate change or the need for a low carbon economy behind the motivation for the new strategy.
"The need for resource efficiency, which the commission promoted as an important part of the new strategy, is also completely absent in the summit conclusions.
"The commission opened an opportunity to improve the EU's domestic climate policy, but the summit has slammed that door firmly shut.
"They have stepped back to the old condition of requiring other nations in the world to make comparable commitments
"This has absolutely nothing to do with creating a low carbon economy here in Europe, which can only be triggered by ambitious domestic greenhouse gas reductions."
Further comment came from Elise Ford, head of Oxfam International's EU office, who said, "We welcome the interest European leaders signalled in a global levy on financial transactions, which has the potential to raise hundreds of billions of euros for fighting poverty and climate change at home and abroad.
"It is disappointing leaders haven't bitten the bullet and committed to move forward with a European scheme. We need bold EU leadership on this issue ahead of the G20 meeting in Toronto later this year.
"Now more than ever, it is crucial to have cash to fight both the development and the climate change crises. EU leaders talked today about regaining leadership in the international climate talks post-Copenhagen.
"Backing new sources of climate cash - such as a tax on international financial transactions which could raise hundreds of billions over and above existing promises of development aid - is one of the best ways to do this."
Aside from climate change, the summit agreed to make poverty reduction one of the five key objectives and targets for the new EU2020 strategy for the next decade.
But Fintan Farrell, director of European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) said EU leaders "did not commit themselves to a concrete figure nor indicator". "The decision on the specific indicator and target has been postponed, following a 'reflection period' until the June council," he said.
"We're clearly pleased that EU leaders have made poverty a key objective in the new strategy. The EU seems to have recognized, at last, that growth and jobs alone, can’t be relied upon to reduce poverty and inequality.
"But the failure to agree the commission's proposal of a 25 per cent reduction in poverty, based on the current agreed relative poverty indicator, does raise doubts about EU leaders commitment to go beyond symbolic actions and really commit themselves to achieving a significant reduction in poverty and inequality."
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