The leaders gathered to decide on a new green energy strategy to fight climate change and reduce Europe's dependence on oil imports. Merkel, who is leading the two-day summit, wants the 27-nation EU to adopt new rules to boost the use of less-polluting, renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydro power.
“We have got to go for a sensible solution, for the right policy mix, which will ultimately deliver results for our grandchildren,” Merkel said before the summit began.
The EU leaders are set to agree to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by the year 2020 from 1990 levels, a first step in Europe's ambitious strategy to fight global warming. They are also set to develop energy ties with central Asian countries to reduce their dependency on Russian oil and gas.
Merkel wants the EU to set a global standard to pressure the United States, Russia and others to follow Europe's new pro-environment agenda.
“Europe only produces 15 percent of global C02,” Merkel said. “The real climate problem will not be solved by Europe alone.”
She and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso held talks with business and union leaders before the summit to go over the new EU strategy to set up a low-carbon economy to counter climate change, specifics of which are now up for debate.
The business and labor leaders warned after the meeting that setting overly stringent rules to cut emissions would seriously harm Europe's economic growth.
Barroso urged European leaders “to rise to the occasion” and “show others we are serious about the issue.”
However, many EU nations are reluctant to live up to proposed commitments to switch from fossil fuels like cheap coal to more costly renewable sources, arguing that it will add costs and hurt economic growth.
They are also at loggerheads over whether to replace 10 percent of transport fuel with biofuels by 2020. Germany, Britain and Italy are pushing hard for a binding 20 percent renewables target by 2020, but France and many eastern European nations are against it, fearing they could lose the right to draw from cheaper sources such as coal or nuclear power plants.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia are offering to host a debate on the future of nuclear energy, but diplomats from both countries acknowledged they were largely isolated in their efforts. Both countries say they will be unable to meet the 20 percent target for renewables without nuclear energy.
“Nuclear energy has been one of the most important carbon-free energy sources contributing to reducing emissions,” Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said in a letter to Barroso.
The summit talks also will focus on drafting a declaration to mark the EU's 50th birthday party planned for March 24-25 in Berlin, but reaching unity may be difficult as many nations have topics they do not want mentioned.
Foreign ministers are to debate efforts to bring stability to Iraq as well as Iran's standoff with the West over its nuclear program. Somalia and Lebanon also will be discussed.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday he will press EU counterparts to bolster their troop contributions to NATO's mission in Afghanistan.
A summit deal on energy will help Merkel put pressure on other Group of Eight industrialized nations to take action on the environment at a G-8 gathering she will host in June.
The EU leaders are set to back a goal to cut carbon dioxide releases and keep the average global temperature increase under 3.6 degrees, saying they will agree on a 30 percent cut below 1990 levels if other major polluters join them. According to a draft agreement, they will aim to go even further in the future – with cuts of 60 percent to 80 percent by 2050.
The EU also wants the United Sates to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol, which requires industrial nations to cut their global-warming gases by an average 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
Washington argues that Kyoto would hurt the U.S. economy and that such cuts should also apply to fast-growing China and India.
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