Karácsony előtti tanácsi egyezségek

Az EU a légiközlekedésre is kiterjeszti a kvótarenszert
Az Európai Unió környezetvédelmi minisztereinek brüsszeli tanácskozásán megegyezés született a repülőgépek széndioxid kibocsátásának korlátozásáról, melyet 2012-től vezetnek be. A környezetvédelmi miniszterek a széndioxid-kibocsátási kvótarendszert terjesztenék ki a légi közlekedésre, amely a 27 tagállamból felszálló, illetve az oda érkező repülőgépekre valamint a tagállamok közötti légi forgalomra egyaránt vonatkozna.

A légitársaságok előtt két lehetőség áll, vagy csökkentik széndioxid kibocsátásukat vagy lehetőségük van kvóták vásárlására. A környezetvédelmi miniszterek szerint a javaslat jól tükrözi az EU környezetvédelem iránti elkötelezettségét, amely már a múlt heti, Bali szigetén tartott klímakonferencián is megnyilvánult.

EU ministers agree on wine reform

EU farm ministers reached a deal on Wednesday on reforming wine policy, after Europe's farm chief offered more flexibility and cash incentives to persuade reluctant producers such as France and Italy to sign up.

The idea is to avoid huge unwanted surpluses for which there is no market by draining off Europe's notorious "wine lakes" -- and also help EU wines compete against cheaper New World rivals.

The reform, many months in the making, will give generous subsidies to winemakers for digging up their vines over three years. Apart from offering more cash to many countries, particularly Italy and Greece, Europe's farm chief also agreed to phase-outs of many traditional subsidy areas such as emergency distillation.

EU Commission abandoned its idea of ending the existing ban on new vine plantings in 2013, extending this expiry date to 2018. Vine planting is strictly controlled in the EU and, with few exceptions, no new plantings are now allowed until mid-2010.

One of the most controversial areas, the proposal to ban sugar used in winemaking to boost alcohol content, was removed during the negotiations since it sparked fierce resistance from at least 20 of the EU's 27 member countries. Sugar may continue to be added to wine during production, subject to conditions.

Many problem areas were smoothed out earlier in the week, such as a carrot-and-stick plan -- similar to that used in the recent EU sugar reform -- to encourage winemakers to dig up unneeded vines by giving subsidies on a sliding annual scale. This scheme would remove some 175,000 hectares of land under vines out of the EU's existing 3.4 million hectares.