So, in 2000 came the launch of the European climate change programme.

So I applaud the Commission’s decision to launch a new phase of the European climate change programme to look at what more can be done.

We must, however, be credible here at home too, and that is why we have set up the European Climate Change Programme.

This makes the European Climate Change Programme important, but the actual measures so far proposed by the Commission are insufficiently ambitious.

Mr President, I speak in my capacity as draftsman of the opinion on the European Climate Change Programme.

European Climate Change Programme (ECCP)

Internally, the Commission will proceed within the framework of the European Climate Change Programme to enable the European Union to meet its emissions reductions targets as agreed.

At the heart of the European climate change programme that the Commission has set up is the preparation of concrete proposals for action, several of which have already been adopted by this House.

Where have we got to with the second European Climate Change Programme, and how do you intend to inject more life into the climate talks in Montreal this autumn and winter?

Other factors that warrant our attention include road infrastructure conditions and road traffic management systems, as indicated in the European Climate Change Programme II launched in October 2005.

To this effect, we have the second phase of the European climate change programme, which promotes renewable energy sources, and we are proposing a series of measures in support of such energy sources.

That cohesion will be put to the test following ratification, as it will also be when, a little later on in the spring, we debate the European Climate Change Programme and emissions trading.

The European climate change programme Mrs Jackson referred to was launched on 8 March 2000 and has identified key elements for a cost-effective EU-wide strategy to combat climate change.

The promotion of nuclear energy does not feature amongst these measures proposed by the European Commission in the European Climate Change Programme and the Framework Directive on Emissions Trading.

The second objective is to explain what the European Union is doing through our European Climate Change Programme as well as the emissions trading scheme that will start from January 2005.

The European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) was launched in June 2000 by the European Union's European Commission, with the purpose of avoiding dangerous climate change.

I believe it to be the common responsibility of us all not to lose sight of our industrial policy objectives and our economy's competitiveness, no matter how necessary it is that we support to the utmost a sensible European climate change programme.

Of special importance in this connection is the work being done within the Commission on, for example, the European Climate Change Programme and the work based on the green paper on greenhouse gas emissions trading within the European Union.

I also wish to say that I consider it self-evident and very important that Parliament should be fully involved in the work we are now doing on the European Climate Change Programme and on the proposal concerning emissions trading.

The European Union is implementing the European Climate Change Programme, which will ensure that the Union achieves the 8% cut in emissions between 2008 and 2012, which is our political commitment under the Kyoto Protocol.

It should be remembered that these gases were already included, in 1997, in the basket of gases to be controlled under the Kyoto Protocol and that this regulation emerged from a specific programme called the European Climate Change programme.

Various measures have already been taken under the European Climate Change Programme and others are planned within the strategic analysis of energy policy in the European Union in order to achieve a significant part of the greenhouse gas reduction target.

The Institute for Energy within the European Commission, which originated from the requirements within the European climate change programme, is now accepted as the foremost European advisory body on energy best practices within the data centre operators and owners community.

Given this framework, the community instruments proposed by the Commission are to be praised, specifically the European Climate Change Programme and the directive on emissions trading, on which the European Parliament is due to deliver an opinion within the next six months.

Later this year, following the adoption of the European Union emissions trading system review report in the coming weeks, the Commission will activate a stakeholder group under the auspices of the European Climate Change Programme to intensify the debate on the review.