The German steel industry believes that the
relevant regulations will bankrupt the European steel industry. They proposed
environmental tariffs on products from outside the EU that do not meet EU
standards as a solution.
According to the EU climate protection
goals, by 2010, greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption should be
reduced by 20%, and renewable energy supply should be increased by 20%.
Specific implementation steps for this goal
were discussed during Germany's 2007 EU presidency. On Wednesday, the European
Commission will present a broad set of draft laws.
In fact, Germany, France, Spain and Austria
have already expressed concerns about formulating specific emission reduction
ratios before the relevant plans are fully disclosed. French President Nicolas
Sarkozy said that France's electricity mainly relies on nuclear energy and
emits very little carbon dioxide, so it should no longer impose specific
emission reduction restrictions on the country. Germany opposes EU regulations
on the proportion of renewable energy in each member state, believing that this
will undermine the country's aid plan. European Commission President Barroso
promised that relevant regulations will take into account the specific
circumstances of each member state. Barroso said: "Because the situation
in each country is not the same, the European Commission takes appropriate
consideration of individual member states."
Among them, energy-intensive industries
such as steel, aluminum and cement have specifically raised objections to the
planned pollution rights trading.
According to German media reports, the
German steel industry believes that the relevant regulations will cause the
European steel industry to collapse. They proposed environmental tariffs on
products from outside the EU that do not meet EU standards as a solution.
The European Trade Union Confederation said: "Environmental tariffs should be imposed on steel from many countries in the world, mainly developing countries, such as China." However, the European Industry Association is skeptical about the implementation of environmental tariffs: "The problem of environmental tariffs It is too easy to implement. The EU can easily set environmental tariffs, but other countries can also easily impose environmental tariffs on EU products. The final result is a trade war."