May I add a small facet to the central thrust of my argument? I mean the crisis in Europe’s climate policy and the EU’s deepening division over the economic damage it is causing.

You may recall that the current G8 president, Angela Merkel, and her colleague Tony Blair were adament at their press conference on Tuesday that one of Europe’s key climate policy aims was to increase the target for renewable energy sources to 20% by 2020.
http://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/DE/Mitschrift/Pressekonferenzen/2007/02/2007-02-14-pk-merkel-blair.html

You’d think that the German Chancellor and Britain’s Prime Minister are two heavy-weight leaders who are in the driving seat when it comes to European climate policy, wouldn’t you? Well, think again.

Here is what Europe’s real dealmakers had to say today about green rhetoric and the harsh reality of saveguarding economic stability:

“EU energy ministers watered down an ambitious plan to turn Europe into a low-carbon economy, saying Thursday that a target to generate 20 percent of all energy in 2020 from renewable sources should not be mandatory….”
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/02/15/ap3429656.html

Does anyone wonder why intyernational observers express amusement about Europe’s Kyoto-circus?