Poland may delay EU deal on fighting climate change

Poland may seek to delay a EU deal on fighting climate change as experts warn the government that the plan will harm the country's growth, fuel inflation and, possibly, undermine efforts to adopt the euro.

France hopes to clinch an agreement on the EU flagship programme during its presidency over the EU in the second half of this year, but Poland believes April or May, next year, may be a more realistic target as the plan needs deep revisions.

"It is better not to rush things. It is better to have a better deal later," European Affairs Minister Mikolaj Dowgielewicz told visiting foreign reporters.

"We should not rush into a deal just to have it and then wake up to discover that it has very bad consequences and undermines people's confidence in the EU."

Reaching an agreement around April next year would allow it to take into account the stance on climate change of a new US President due to be elected in November, he added.

EU leaders agreed last year to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 20 per cent, compared with 1990 levels, to fight global warming, and to get 20 per cent of energy from renewable sources.

Legislation spelling out how to achieve the targets is now being negotiated among the EU's 27 governments and the European Parliament. The governments' decisions are taken by a qualified majority so Poland alone cannot block a deal.

Poland is one of several east European countries suing the European Commission to get more carbon emissions permits for their coal-dependent industry and so cut the cost of the bloc's climate change targets.

Mr Dowgielewicz said he was worried by a report by accounting firm Ernst and Young on the impact of the programme on Poland, as proposed by the European Commission, which forecast Poland's fast economic growth would be hit and inflation boosted.

"It may be a major obstacle to Poland's efforts to join the EMU (European Monetary Union) by creating a big stagflationary shock," Ernst and Young partner Krzysztof Rybinski, who had served as the Polish central bank's deputy governor, told reporters.

Poland has no official target to adopt the euro, but some government officials have said it could be in 2012. To achieve that, Poland will have to meet tough criteria on inflation and budget deficit.