91997E3708

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3708/97 by Ulf Holm (V) to the Council (19 November 1997)

Subject: UN climate meeting in Kyoto

Ahead of the main UN climate meeting in Kyoto in December, the EU is now acting as a single body in the work on the convention. Many, not only within the EU but also in countries outside such as Australia, consider this to be problematic as it implies that the Member States are now negotiating as a legal person.

Who within the EU is actually responsible for the EU's views? Is it the Commission, the Member States or something in-between?

Does the Council consider that the present Treaty is sufficient to enable the EU to be described as a legal person? Will the new Amsterdam Treaty clarify this point further?

Answer (19 January 1998)

The Council would remind the Honourable Member that the subject matter of a possible Kyoto Protocol falls in part within the competence of the European Community and in part within that of the Member States.

The Honourable Member is doubtless aware of the fact that both the Community and its Member States are contracting parties to the United Nations framework Convention on Climate Change. The reference to the European Union in the negotiation process for the Kyoto Protocol reflects the obligation to ensure close cooperation between the Member States and the Community institutions as it flows from the requirement of unity in the international representation of the Community (see, for example, Opinion 1/94 of the Court of Justice of 15 November 1994, 1994 Court Reports, page I-5267, point 108).

As for the position of the European Community in the Kyoto negotiations, this is defined by the Council in accordance with Article 228(1) of the EC Treaty.