EU rejects Bush's climate change plans

The EU says it regrets that George W Bush is failing to back the Kyoto treaty and rejects the president's own plans to fight global warming.

Before leaving Washington for his first official trip to Europe, Mr Bush set out his own plan to research technological solutions to slow greenhouse emissions.

But his announcement has been met with growing scepticism by EU officials who fear he could scuttle the entire 1997 Kyoto agreement.

Environment Minister Kjell Larsson, of Sweden, which currently holds the EU presidency, said: "We regret that President Bush continues to reject the Kyoto Protocol.

"Abandoning the Kyoto Protocol would mean postponing international action to combat climate change for years - and we are already late. We cannot accept this."

Mr Bush, who is in Spain on the first leg of his European tour, has reiterated that Kyoto is "fatally flawed," and called for further scientific research into global warming before taking action.

EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstroem called on Mr Bush to "move on from analysing the issues towards action," adding there was more than enough scientific evidence to back global warming and its detrimental effect.

She added that the EU remains committed to ratifying Kyoto.

The treaty commits industrialised countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average 5.2% by 2012 from 1990 levels. The EU said it plans to cut emissions by 8% over that.