Crisis divides EU on greenhouse gas cuts

Other health problems
The smelter is still operating. And the New York-based Blacksmith Institute environmental watchdog says newborns in the area have twice the safe levels of lead in their bodies; 96 percent of children ages 2-14 have chronic bronchitis and other respiratory problems; and life expectancy is still nine years below the national average of 63.

In a 2006 report that mirrored the situation in many East European countries, the Czech government documented that worsening air quality affects 60 percent of its population — the price of developing rapidly after decades of economic stagnation under communism.

While environmental consciousness is growing among the well-heeled in the more prosperous parts of eastern Europe, the poorest had more immediate concerns even before the financial maelstrom hit.

In Serbia's capital, Belgrade, where the average monthly wage is little more than $500, the needy have little time to discuss the perils of climate change.

"Global warming? Who cares if we all starve to death," said retiree Mirjana Budimirovic.

Inefficient power sector
Serbia has one of the largest carbon footprints of any country in Europe. Its creaky, inefficient power sector uses twice as much energy per person than western Europe's average.

Still, charges of environmental foot-dragging rankle government officials who point to progress made cleaning up the environmental catastrophes of the communist era.

"Thanks to structural reforms from 1995 to 2005, greenhouse gas effects were reduced by 40 percent in Romania," said that nation's environment minister, Attila Korodi.

Eastern officials argue their countries merit special consideration because communist policies left their economies more vulnerable to the cost of making deep, rapid cuts in greenhouse emissions.

Poland, for instance, still depends on plentiful coal reserves to meet most of its heating needs, while coal use has lessened in recent decades in western Europe because of pollution concerns that were not an issue during the communist era in the east.

Now, the EU's emission plans has Poland facing the expense of equipping its coal industry with costly filtering equipment — or the deeply unpopular option of turning to historic nemesis Russia to buy cleaner burning oil and natural gas.

Concern about rise in energy prices
The Polish Environment Ministry's spokeswoman, Elzbieta Strucka, said Warsaw's opposition to the EU climate package has nothing to do with the financial crisis but stems from existing economic considerations for a poor country.

The plan will result "in a shocking rise in energy prices," she said. "Poland and other nations that use coal energy cannot agree to this."

She said Poland agrees to the principle of cutting emissions but wants to implement it more gradually than EU administrators envision.

Tusk, the Polish prime minister, said that if the EU truly wants to set an example to the rest of the world, it must first persuade its poorer members to sign on to a deal acceptable to all.

"If we are not able to accept it, what will a hundred countries much poorer than Poland say?"

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