PP makes big swerve on climate change

Opposition shows cards over EU emission cut proposal

The Popular Party showed its hand on climate change on Tuesday, warning it would not support - at least for now - EU plans to increase CO2 cuts from 20 percent to 30 percent. It also called emission-reduction projects by Spanish companies abroad "a fiasco."

The stance represents a drastic change from that of the government, which, along with the UK, France and Germany, supports the bigger cut. The PP justified its position on the fact that high employment meant that "new cost factors for industry" should not be introduced.

Without PP support, the Mixed (Congress-Senate) Committee for the Study of Climate Change on Tuesday approved a report requesting, among other measures, an environmental public prosecutor, a Climate Change Law and a CO2 levy.