EU presses Japan, US to allow deal on Kyoto
Date: 28-Jun-01
Country: EU
Commenting during high-level talks in The Netherlands aimed at paving the way for a meeting in Bonn next month to shore up the shaky environmental deal, EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom said negotiators were "facing a difficult situation".
"We are working hard to get an agreement in Bonn and are willing to be flexible," Wallstrom said in a statement released in Brussels.
"The key question is: do other countries, including Japan, have the political will to make Bonn a success? And will the U.S. let the other parties go ahead? That is at least what President (George W.) Bush promised." The talks, in the Dutch seaside town of Scheveningen, are aimed at clarifying exactly what can be achieved in Bonn - a meeting seen by many as the last chance for keeping Kyoto alive since the United States rejected the deal in March.
The EU wants Japan to push ahead with the 1997 climate change deal with or without the United States.
Japan, which previously negotiated alongside the United States to get flexible rules on cutting greenhouse gases, is trying to bring the U.S. administration back on board - an ambition considered hopeless by most EU officials.
Japanese Environment Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, in an interview with the BBC yesterday, repeated that Japan would try to bring the United States back into the treaty, but did not say if Tokyo would back the deal without the participation of Washington.
However, she did say Japan was in line with the European Union and other nations in trying to make the protocol legally binding next year.
"We would like to see the protocol enter into force by 2002," she said.
"We are committed to make it into force by 2002."