“EU warned of looming climate catastrophe” write on Ft.com October 19, 2006, George Parker in Lahti and Sarah Laitner in Brussels

Britain and the Netherlands will on Friday attempt to force climate change to the top of the EU’s agenda, warning that the world is only 10-15 years away from “a catastrophic tipping point”.

Tony Blair, British prime minister, and Jan Peter Balkenende, his Dutch counterpart, will urge EU leaders to put Europe at the forefront of efforts to save energy and cut carbon emissions.

In a joint letter ahead of an EU summit in Finland on Friday, the two say Europe should work with countries such as China and India to develop low carbon technologies and set world standards.

“We have a window of only 10-15 years to take the steps we need to avoid crossing a catastrophic tipping point,” the two prime ministers claim. They back EU legislation for new energy efficiency standards, tightened emissions trading and moves to bring carbon emissions from fossil fuel plants to zero.

The move may help to divert attention from the awkward main business of the summit, a debate with Vladimir Putin on the EU’s energy relationship with Moscow.

EU leaders hope to present a united front in calling for an equal energy partnership with Russia, just as Moscow tightens its grip on the oil and gas sector to the detriment of western companies.

The Kremlin has made it clear it has no intention to sign up to the transit protocol of the energy charter treaty, which would give third parties access to the pipelines of Gazprom, the Russian energy group.

There are fears in Lahti, the lakeside town hosting the summit, that European leaders will send out mixed signals to Mr Putin with pro-Russian countries such as France and Germany striking a softer tone than harsh critics such as Poland.

Matti Vanhanen, Finland’s premier will tackle Mr Putin on Russia’s tough treatment of Georgia after a spying dispute and over the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaja.

Europe on Thursday stepped up efforts to cut its energy bill with a plan designed to reduce energy use by 20 per cent within 14 years.

The EU Commission proposal targets wasteful products such as standby modes on electrical appliances, boilers and computers, as well as cars and houses. Tax breaks could be offered to companies and individuals.

Andris Piebalgs, EU energy commissioner, said the plan could cut millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year, and reduce the “direct cost” of the union’s power consumption by over €100bn ($126bn, £67bn) a year by 2020.
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But judging from EUobserver.com of October 21, 2006, above topics did not make any impression on Mr. Putin as per Honor Mahony from Lahti, and the reality is as follows:

“Putin takes hard line on energy and Georgia”

Russian president Vladimir Putin has resisted EU pressure to sign up to an energy charter that would secure the bloc better access to his country’s gas and oil fields saying further work was needed on the document.

Brussels has been pushing for Moscow to sign up to the 1991 agreement amid fears that it is tightening its grip over the EU’s energy supplies but at a summit in the Finnish town of Lahti yesterday (20 October) it came away empty handed.

“We are not against the principles that are included in the charter, but we believe that that certain provisions of the charter should be defined better,” said Mr Putin.

“I am quite confident that we will be in a position to develop common approaches,” he continued referring to discussions between the two sides on renewing a partnership agreement between Moscow and Brussels.

For its part, the EU worked hard on presenting a united front before the Russian president with member states divided over to what extent they should criticise human rights violations and how pragmatic they need to be in light of their strong dependency on gas and oil supplies from their giant neighbour.

Significantly, Berlin and Warsaw, who have previously argued over a Russian-German energy pipeline that bypasses Poland, took a similar line.

“We offer security in contracts and we expect the same from Russia, namely also legal security in contracts and access to the Russian market,” said German chancellor Angela Merkel, according to German media.

Polish president Lech Kaczynski said “European investments in Russia have to be as secure as Polish investments in Finland or vice-versa.”

Their words come after a series of recent actions against foreign firms – the most recent being keeping foreign capital out of the development of the Shtokman gas field - have set off the alarm bells in national capitals.

Georgia blamed
Russia was equally stony faced at the Lahti meeting about its handling of Georgia, blaming Tbilisi for the recent escalation in tensions between it and its tiny Caucasus neighbour.

“To our great sorrow and concern, the situation is developing in the direction of possible bloodshed,” Mr Putin said according to AP.

He accused Georgia of trying to take back the Moscow-friendly breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia “by military means.”

“This is what you and I should be afraid of … bloodshed in that region,” he added. Russia earlier this month Moscow stopped issuing visas and started deporting Georgians in reaction to Tbilisi’s short arrest of four Russian soldiers on spying charges. Since then the EU has been trying to diffuse the situation and has been calling on Russia to moderate its actions.