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The European Council reached a agreement on environment protection, European economic recovery plan, the Lisbon Treaty ...
16.12.2008, 11:54
The European Council reached a agreement on environment protection, European economic recovery plan, the Lisbon Treaty and the European Security and Defence Policy
The European Council held in Brussels on 11 and 12 December 2008 reached a agreement on climate protection and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The Council also reached an agreement on the European economic recovery plan, the Lisbon Treaty and the European Security and Defence Policy. Energy and climate change package should be able to be finalised with the European Parliament by the end of the year. This decisive breakthrough will allow the European Union to honour its ambitious commitments and retain its leading role in seeking a global agreement at the World Climate Conference that will be held in Copenhagen next year. This package will implement the ambitious energy and climate commitments entered into by the European Union in March 2007 and March 2008, especially the target of a 20 % reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. The European Council confirms the European Union's commitment to increasing this reduction to 30 % within the framework of an ambitious and comprehensive global agreement in Copenhagen on climate change for the period after 2012. The European Council also approved a European economic recovery plan, equivalent to 1.5% of the GDP of the European Union (approximately 200 billion euros). This plan constitutes the common framework for efforts undertaken by the Member States and the European Union to ensure that these efforts are consistent with one another, thereby maximising their effects. The European Council expressed its will, by means of a number of concrete decisions, to give a new impetus to the European Security and Defence Policy in order to respond to the new security challenges.
Lastly, the European Council debated the elements aimed at responding to the concerns expressed during the Irish referendum and set out an approach to allow the Lisbon Treaty to enter into force before the end of 2009. The necessary legal guarantees will be given on the following three points: nothing in the Treaty of Lisbon makes any change of any kind, for any Member State, to the extent or operation of the Union's competences in relation to taxation; the Treaty of Lisbon does not prejudice the security and defence policy of Member States, including Ireland's traditional policy of neutrality, and the obligations of most other Member States; a guarantee that the provisions of the Irish Constitution in relation to the right to life, education and the family are not in any way affected by the fact that the Treaty of Lisbon attributes legal status to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights or by the justice and home affairs provisions of the said Treaty.
In the light of the above commitments by the European Council, the Irish Government is committed to seeking ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon by the end of the term of the current Commission.
Source: http://www.delhrv.ec.europa.eu/en/content/news/id/1454