On 14 March, 2011 Dr Tamás Fellegi, Minister of National Development, also in charge of climate change policy, chaired the climate change policy agenda items at the European Council’s environment policy meeting in Brussels.

The ministers delegated by the Member States to discuss climate change policy adopted Council Conclusions regarding the measures to be taken after the Cancún Climate Change Conference. The Council Conclusions welcome the achievements of the Cancún conference and call the international partners of the European Union to endorse the Mexico agreement. The ministers agreed that further consultations were required to develop the European Union’s stand regarding the 2012 termination of the Kyoto Protocol. The Council also deemed the clarification of financing issues significant. In this field, the aim of the Hungarian Presidency is to influence international negotiation in the appropriate direction, determine the tasks marked out by the Cancún Agreement and schedule their implementation.

Based on the Cancún achievements, the Hungarian Presidency is also responsible for the co-ordination of opinions to shape the common EU position for the South African round of talks. An important goal of the Hungarian Presidency in connection with the external representation of the European Union is to bring Member States’ positions closer to each other. In an international context, such issues include, for instance, the extent of commitment, the future of the Kyoto Protocol, and financing. In respect of the European Union, the following issues were raised: burden sharing by the Member States, benchmarking, as well as the settlement of accounts and carry-over of the Kyoto quota surplus (AAU) to the next period.

In the framework of the miscellaneous agenda items, the Commission presented the forward-looking roadmap of conversion to a low-carbon economy by 2050, and instructed the participants of the Communication entitled “Regional Policy Contributing to Sustainable Growth in Europe 2020”.

During the working lunch held on the day of the Council meeting, the ministers had a chance to discuss the international aspects of low-carbon efforts among informal conditions. As an introduction to this exchange of views, a lecture was delivered by the Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP.

On account of the natural disaster that shook Japan, the Hungarian Presidency would convene the competent Council working group (Working Party on Atomic Questions) in order to inform the Member States and conduct expert consultations, Minister Tamás Fellegi announced at the press conference held in connection with the meeting.

The representatives of the Hungarian Presidency will consult the representatives of the European Commission tomorrow about the working group’s agenda.

For Tuesday, Commissioner for Energy, Günther Öttinger convened the representatives of the competent authorities in charge of nuclear security and the power plants of the 27 Member States in order to gather information on the measures adopted by them. Based on this, the Hungarian Presidency will be informed of the prevailing security situation and the possible actions.

If required, the Hungarian Presidency is ready to give all necessary support to facilitate fast decision-making.

(Ministry of National Development , Department of Communication)