European Parliament delays climate vote as rows rumble on

The European Parliament has confirmed it is to delay a series of crucial votes on the EU's proposed climate change package.

But MEPs remain confident the wide-ranging legislation can be finalised before the end of the year, despite disagreements with member states over the proposals.

A European Parliament vote had been scheduled for 4 December. This was to decide the finalised package of legislation and targets designed to deliver the EU's commitment to cut emissions 20 per cent by 2020.

But a spokesman for the parliament confirmed today that the vote had now been put back to the week commencing 15 December with Thursday 18 December the most likely date.

He said that more time was needed to complete negotiations between the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council of member states.

Talks between Brussels and member states over the Bloc's climate change package have been making slow progress since they started earlier this autumn with disagreements continuing over a number of the proposals.

All member states have signalled that they will continue to support agreed targets to cut emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 and generate a fifth of the EU's energy from renewable sources by the same date.

However, there are significant divisions over how the targets should be met, with eastern European states lobbying for western states to take on more of the burden, and a group of several countries, led by Italy, calling for more to be done to protect carbon-intensive industries in the current economic downturn.

Meanwhile, there are also disagreements over the extent to which carbon credits from outside the EU should count towards emission reduction targets; the scale of the penalties that should be imposed on car manufacturers that fail to comply with new emission standards; how the competition to build 12 carbon-capture and storage-demonstration plants should be run; and whether revenue raised from auctioning carbon credits to polluters should be ring-fenced for investment in carbon reduction initiatives.

Despite the negotiations, the parliament spokesperson expressed confidence that a deal could be struck before the end of the year. "The aim is to get everything finalised during the french presidency [of the EU, which finishes at the end of the year]," he said.