EU's socialists warn of social impact of climate change

SOFIA: A senior Socialist MEP has hit out over widespread "scaremongering" about the dangers of global warming.

Robert Goebbels, a Luxembourg deputy, told the annual council of the Party of European Socialists (PES) that "doomsday merchants" were distracting attention from the "real threat" posed by climate change.

"There is far too much inaccurate scaremongering going on," he told delegates from other 30 Socialist parties throughout Europe.

Goebbels, a member of the temporary committee on climate change, said a recent report issued in Valencia by the Intergovernmental panel on climate change presented "a more accurate" picture of the dangers of global warming.

"We should, perhaps, be listening more to people like the IPCC scientists and less to people like Al Gore," he said.

Goebbels, a deputy leader of parliament's Socialist group, said that the "social aspects" of tackling climate change should not be overlooked.

"We have to remember that, if we are going to propose increased fuel tax for the aviation sector, the cost of this will be passed onto passengers. That could leave air travel being the preserve of the wealthy in future. I do not think any of us really want that."

Speaking on the same issue, UK Socialist deputy Linda McAvan said that poverty will "never be history" unless climate change is effectively addressed.

"That was the conclusion I came to after a visit to Kenya whose people are already living with the devastating effects of climate change," she said.

She added, "Tackling climate change is not just an ecological imperative or even an economic one. It is a matter of social justice and equity which is why Europe's Socialist parties have put climate change at the top of their political agenda."

The gathering in Bulgaria adopted a resolution on climate change which will form part of the manifesto on which parliament's Socialist group will contest the 2009 European elections.

The resolution says that "the future of human civilisation is at an unprecedented risk" and that scientific debate "has put an end" to the debate about global warming.

It makes several recommendations, including a "global roadmap" for action.

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