Slovakia protests over cut to carbon emission limit

Slovakia has protested to the European Commission over a 25% cut in the country’s permitted carbon dioxide limits, the country’s justice minister said.

Last November the European Commission, in a bid to fight global warming, ordered Slovakia to reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions to 30.9 million tons per year, starting in 2008.

Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government suggested a limit of 41.2 million tons, arguing that the European Commission’s cut did not take into account accelerating economic growth and the shutdown of two nuclear reactors that affected power supply.

Minister of Justice Stefan Harabin said: “This is the first ever Slovakian complaint to the European Commission.

“The European Commission’s quotas could lead to an increase in unemployment.”.

The Slovak government had warned in the past that the emission limits would affect at least 200 Slovak companies, some of them major industrial assets.

In the protest, Slovakia said the European Commission calculated the quotas, though Harabin said: “This is a responsibility of individual member states.”

“The European Commission also failed to discuss the calculation method with Bratislava,” he added.

Slovakia joined the EU in 2004.