EU:EU LEADERS fly to Brussels this evening for a two-day summit that is expected to broadly back the European Commission's climate change package published in January and address the turmoil currently engulfing the world's financial markets.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Tánaiste Brian Cowen and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern will take part in a meeting which diplomats predict will provide few shocks but should prepare the ground for key EU decisions to be taken later in the year.
The meat of the discussions will be the EU's draft climate change package, which sets ambitious goals of unilaterally reducing the union's greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, and possibly increasing this to 30 per cent if a global deal can be agreed in UN-sponsored talks next year.
All 27 EU states are expected to back the outline of the strategy, which is intended to spur other world powers and states to join Europe in tackling climate change. But the summit will also give EU heads of state their first opportunity to address concerns that they may have about the ambitious, yet onerous, individual targets set for each state.
In meetings held by EU ambassadors in the lead up to the summit the main issue of concern has been "carbon leakage", which refers to fears that energy-intensive industries such as the cement or steel sectors will evade the targets by relocating outside the EU.
States such as Germany and Poland are likely to urge EU leaders today to ask the commission to come forward with a series of proposals for dealing with this threat before any final agreement on a global climate change deal is reached. But the commission fears that being too soft on these industries prior to clinching such a deal would undermine the EU's hand in the ensuing negotiations with the US, China and India.
Draft conclusions prepared for the summit show that the EU is likely to call for "appropriate measures to be implemented in the event that other countries do not commit to taking adequate measures to reduce greenhouse gases".
This could mean import sanctions for goods imported from states such as the US or China if they do not agree an internal climate change deal later next year.
Several other states have their own problems with the climate change package. Poland and the Czech Republic are concerned that electricity prices will rise significantly as their energy firms will not be granted free emissions permits under the EU's plan.
The talks on climate change will also have a particular relevance for Ireland, which faces the highest emission reduction targets under the commission's plan.
The Taoiseach has already warned that the proposed 20 per cent cut by 2020 raises "very serious economic and social issues for Ireland" and he is expected to lobby other leaders on the issue.
The Government has already submitted detailed questions to the commission to check whether the methodology it used to reach the 20 per cent reduction figure was accurate. Mr Ahern will also focus his attention on persuading other leaders to press the commission to allow states more flexibility in meeting their own targets, for example by investing in clean energy projects abroad.
EU leaders will also address how climate change will increase security threats, such as mass immigration to Europe, and the thorny question of spurring competition in the electricity and gas sectors. France and Germany are among eight countries that have real concerns about plans to force big energy firms to separate their network and services arms. Nevertheless, the summit will agree deadlines for the conclusion of an EU energy liberalisation deal by June and a wider EU climate package by December.
"The momentum cannot be allowed to slip. The timing of an agreement is critical to its success," said commission president José Manuel Barroso yesterday.
EU leaders will also be briefed on measures being put in place to cope with the current financial market turbulence and a Franco-German plan to create a "union for the Mediterranean" in July. This plan, which has been watered down by Berlin, seeks to build stronger ties between Mediterranean states from the EU, Africa and Middle East.