Thursday, September 30, 2004
Russia: Hot Air Nemesis Or Producer?
Russia has seen the light and it will ratify Kyoto to save the human race! Um, or something along the lines of that.
Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said after the Cabinet meeting that the Kyoto Protocol is likely have little effect on the economy. But Gref said he favors joining the treaty because the move "carries symbolic meaning that Russia is taking part in the global process of lowering greenhouse gas emissions," Interfax reported.So what are the happy-go-lucky Lefties supposed to do now? Celebrate another step towards Kyoto implementation, or lament the strengthening of the evil evil WTO?Illarionov said earlier this week that officials see no economic or scientific basis for ratifying Kyoto, but will support it as "a political gesture to Europe."
He did not say what Russia might hope to gain in return.
Observers have said that Moscow is trading its approval of Kyoto in return for EU support for the country's bid to join the World Trade Organization.
Kyoto is "not completely isolated" from other issues in Russian-EU relations, Wallstrom said. "Of course it will influence energy politics, of course it will influence trade -- sometimes in a subtle way, sometimes in a rather clear way."
"There is no formal link between Kyoto and the WTO," said Arancha Gonzalez, spokeswoman on trade issues for the European Commission, without elaborating. But many trade-related energy issues that were negotiated between Russia and the EU for Russia's accession to the WTO are "absolutely coherent with the Kyoto agenda," she said. "They are mutually supportive."
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