Russia Agrees to Deeper Emissions Cuts, EU Says

Russia is ready to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 to 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels, raising its target from 15 percent just weeks ahead of a UN climate summit, the EU said Wednesday.
"With the Copenhagen conference starting in just over two weeks, we have made very important progress today and I very much welcome the signal from President Medvedev today of their proposed emissions reduction target of 20 to 25 percent," Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, said.

Swedish Prime Minister and President of the European Council Fredrik Reinfeldt met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt chaired the summit. Minister for Enterprise and Energy Maud Olofsson and Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt attended the summit. The EU was also represented at the summit by President of the Commission José Manuel Barroso and EU High Representative Javier Solana.

Issues addressed include climate change, energy, the global economy and follow-up of the G20 summit. Discussions have also covered areas in which the EU and Russia maintain ongoing cooperation, including economic and trade issues, regional cooperation and cooperation in the area of justice. Current foreign policy issues were also on the agenda.

Trade barriers for European companies were high on the agenda. The climate issue, the economic crisis and the uncertainty surrounding Russia's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are important issues that were discussed. Both parties have to continue to coordinate their efforts to meet the economic crisis. In this context, the EU has emphasise the importance of avoiding protectionism. Today, for example, discriminatory road tolls and trade sanctions are hindering European companies.

Russia's position as the EU's most important energy partner was discussed, as well as the importance of putting into place a better early warning system for gas supply reductions, for example. Another issue that was brought up is the situation in Georgia.

One of the EU's top priorities at the summit was to urge Russia to present pledges on emissions reductions ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. During the debate held in the European Parliament on Wednesday evening, several parliamentarians brought up the Human Rights situation in Russia. Recently the European Parliament awarded the Sacharov Prize for freedom of thought to the Russian human rights organisation Memorial. The Council wanted to appeal to Russia to do its best to ensure that Human Rights defenders can carry out their work without fear of violence, harassment or threats.

Translation for Medvedev:
"We talked about the visa issue, we agreed that the existing visa system is counter productive to normal exchange between business, people and it creates problems for people visiting the country. I wish we would go on working over this, for care about long term and short term visas. We worked about basic agreement between Russia and the European Union."

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