madam president to the president-in-office but now in absentia i would say you spoke eloquently this morning about the challenge to our economic future which is rightly at the top of our agenda but no less rightly and no less eloquently you made it clear at the summit and again today that your intention is to maintain the timetable and the targets for tackling climate change
your words are fundamental and right
the climate change package you said is so important that we cannot simply lose it under the pretext of a financial crisis
it was very significant that chancellor merkel despite the real concerns her country and others have made it clear that germany spoke out in favour of implementing the climate change targets and finding solutions before the december summit
if that is the challenge you give us i believe parliament will respond effectively and in good time
but the focus now i have to say is with the council
to achieve this we will need reassurances for the countries which have real problems as poland does with coal
we will need to be clear about the criteria for the lighter touch which we know will be provided for a limited list of industries and sectors faced with real leakage challenges
we must also be very clear that our support for biofuels in transport is dependent on the development of fuels from sustainable sources
without that we could do irreparable damage to our environment and to the habitats of people wildlife and plant life
we have set ourselves an enormous challenge but it is one that we cannot afford to lose
an environmental disaster would make our current economic problems pale into insignificance
as president sarkozy said the two policies must ride together
but we must just make sure and the president must make sure that parliament is not left stranded by the council's inability to follow his lead
