For the EU, and the whole world, climate change is not merely a question of the quality of life, but of survival itself; addressing this issue will therefore be one of the priorities of Slovenia’s Presidency of the EU. Proceeding from the obligations and guidelines for the measures to be taken against climate change, as defined by the Kyoto Protocol for the period ending in 2012, and from expert findings about the measures to be taken in order to bring climate change to a long-term halt, Slovenia’s Presidency will endeavour towards the further development of international policies and the strengthening of legal basis within the EU regarding this matter.

The EU has a leading role in the world in the fight against climate change and through its own activity encourages other parts of the world to take similar measures. In 2007, the EU unilaterally bound itself to achieve by 2020 a twenty per cent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming. Its aim is to attract as many countries as possible to make similar commitments towards reducing emissions; should these countries follow the EU example by providing concrete assurances of emission reductions, the EU is prepared to raise its commitment to a thirty per cent decrease.

Slovenia will prepare the reference points and coordinate the formation of common EU views for the meetings of the working bodies of the Convention on Climate Change scheduled for May and June 2008. These meetings will serve as preparation for the conference of the parties to the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, which will be held in the second half of 2008, and during which agreements made previously will be officially confirmed.