Swedes, Danes and Dutch oppose weakening CO2 standards
"The battle over limiting CO2 emissions from new cars goes on, with the French presidency saying it is determined to conclude a deal by the end of this year"
The European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E) reports on its website: "France has offered what it calls 'further concessions' to gain the support of sceptical countries, but these have only made the proposed legislation even less acceptable to environmental groups.
With negotiations between MEPs and the presidency now beginning, France is still trying to push through a version of the Merkel-Sarkozy agreement reached between the French and German leaders in June. The centrepiece of this agreement was a 'phased-in approach' which effectively means a postponement of three years to 2015.
But other countries – notably the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark – are pushing for a much stricter deal. At a meeting of environment ministers last month, the Dutch said the Commission's original position of 130 grams per kilometre by 2012 should be supported if the EU was not to lose credibility regarding its climate change goals for 2020."
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