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Friday, March 30, 2001

"We'll be working with our allies to reduce greenhouse gases," Bush told reporters ahead of his meeting with Schroeder. "But I will not accept a plan that will harm our economy and hurt American workers."

At issue is the 1997 Kyoto accord, a treaty signed by the United States and 54 other nations. The agreement is designed to limit emissions by industrial nations of greenhouse gases, which many scientists believe causes global warming.

The legislature of only one of the signatories, Romania, has so far ratified it. The White House said Wednesday the Bush administration would back out of the treaty given overwhelming opposition in the U.S. Congress - the Senate has rejected it 95-0.

Bush said Kyoto regulations would be overly burdensome to U.S. industry at a time when businesses struggle against a slowing economy.

Schroeder, a major backer of the Kyoto accord, said the issue was the one major point of disagreement in his meeting with Bush.

"That was no surprise to you," Schroeder told reporters as he sat with Bush in the Oval Office. "We are happy to admit to you that we hold different opinions regarding this. We were also happy to admit to one another that we had different positions on this."

Schroeder said he and other European Union members were looking to the Bush administration to perhaps change its position this summer, when Germany holds a Kyoto implementation conference in Bonn.

"When it comes to that, his excellency the president and his government will be called upon to take a decision as to how they, to put it casually, want to 'play it,'" he said.

Meanwhile, in Brussels the European Union announced plans to send a high-level delegation to Washington to discuss the White House's withdrawal of support for the Kyoto accord, which the European Union heavily backs.

EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom told reporters the administration's position was "very worrying." She said she would go to Washington next week with officials of the Swedish EU presidency and the upcoming Belgian presidency for talks.

"I think we also have to make it absolutely clear to the United States that this is not an issue which can be regarded as some kind of marginal environmental issue that can be ignored, or played down," she said.

Wallstrom said that the United States was one of the major culprits in global pollution. "We don't see that it's such a good idea to sort of let the Americans off the hook, those who are among the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases."

According to estimates, the United States produces about 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gases but has only 4 percent of its population. "We have to make it absolutely clear to the United States that we have the eyes of the world upon us," she said.

Wallstrom questioned whether the United States would come to July's Kyoto implementation talks in Bonn. A previous round last November in The Hague broke down when the United States and Europe could not agree over the right to trade "pollution credits" if a nation did not pledge to cut its pollution.

Wallstrom said that EU trade sanctions against the United States in retaliation for backing out of the Kyoto treaty were premature but that there are broad implications stemming from the U.S. decision.

"This has to do with international relations. This has to do with trade and economics," Wallstrom said. "We will continue to put pressure on the Americans."

Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved.

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