President of the European Parliament (EP) Hans-Gert Pottering on Thursday urged leaders of the European Union (EU) to reach a comprehensive deal on an energy and climate change package, saying that a failure to hammer out an agreement would undermine the EU's leadership in the area in the world.
"If we fail to achieve an acceptable result now, it may no longer be possible to adopt the energy and climate package on schedule. This is not what either the (European) Council or the European Parliament wants, and any such failure would also undermine the European Union's leadership in this area at world level," Pottering told EU leaders, who began their two-day meeting on Thursday afternoon.
Tough negotiations are expected during the EU summit to overcome differences concerning the energy and climate package proposed by the European Commission in January 2008, which include the three major targets set by EU leaders in March 2007 to reduce EU's emissions by 20 per cent in 2020 than the 1990 levels, to have 20 per cent of renewals in total energy consumption and achieve 20 per cent energy savings, also by 2020.
Thanks to intense discussions before the summit, EU member states have reached consensus on over 90 per cent of the provisions of the package. But the toughest issues remain to be tackled by the leaders at their summit.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel had warned against any action that would endanger employment or investment in her country. Italy has also hoped that the package should meet its demands to protect its manufacturing industry.
For its part, Britain has refused the idea of a solidarity fund to help Eastern European countries comply with the requirements of the package while Poland and other Eastern European countries continued to demand special dispensations in emission rules because of their heavy dependence on coal for power generation.
Upon arrival at the EU summit on Thursday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, urged EU leaders to reach an agreement on the energy and climate package, saying there was "no alternative."
Pottering pledged that the EP would do its part properly, but warned that the possible deal during the EU summit must also be acceptable to and secure a majority in the EP.
Turning to the Lisbon Treaty, whose ratification has been put on hold due to rejection by the Irish voters in a June referendum, Pottering said that all the EU member states and the European institutions have a "major responsibility" to work together with Ireland to draw up "a suitable roadmap" which is acceptable to everyone.
"We need a roadmap which frees us from our current institutional paralysis, clears the way for the Lisbon Treaty to enter into force as soon as possible," said Pottering.
According to draft conclusions of this EU summit, Ireland would agree to seek a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty by the end of October, 2009, when the term of the current European Commission expires.
This is the third EU summit since the global financial crisis broke out in September.
To overcome the difficult economic situation, Pottering called for joint European solutions based on "strengthen, responsibility and stability."
He praised the economic stimulus package put forward by the European Commission in late November, which he said "focuses on research, innovation and long-term growth."
The plan is expected to be adopted by the EU summit.