BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania has asked for an annulment of a 2007 European Commission decision to cut its carbon emission quota, a government official said. The European Commission decided in October to cut the new EU member's emission quota for 2008-2018 by 20.7 percent and lower its 2007 ceiling by 10 percent.
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania has asked for an annulment of a 2007 European Commission decision to cut its carbon emission quota, a government official said.
The European Commission decided in October to cut the new EU member's emission quota for 2008-2018 by 20.7 percent and lower its 2007 ceiling by 10 percent.
The centrist minority government filed the annulment request with the European Court of Justice on December 21, said Adrian Ciocanea, head of the cabinet's European Affairs Department.
Several other member states have criticized the emission cuts, saying they were too restrictive.
!ADVERTISEMENT!"The government is now waiting for the court's stance ... during this time, the Commission's decision remains valid," Ciocanea was quoted as saying in the online edition of daily Cotidianul on Saturday.
The Commission is under pressure to take a hard line in the second phase of its emissions trading scheme after lax targets in the first phase, from 2005-07, saw heavy industry receive too many permits, causing a market surplus and subsequent price collapse.
The trading scheme is the EU's key instrument to fight global warming. It sets limits on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that industry may emit.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by David Cowell)
