LITHUANIA UNAWARE OF AVIATION EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME

UNCLAS VILNIUS 001073 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAIR ECON SENV LH EUN SUBJECT: LITHUANIA UNAWARE OF AVIATION EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME DETAILS REF: STATE 190254 ¶1. (SBU) We delivered reftel non-paper on November 27 to officials in the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Transportation, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. None of our interlocutors was aware of the European Commission's specific proposal to force non-EU air carriers to join the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS),and all expressed reservations about how such a unilateral requirement would square with other international obligations like the Chicago Convention. All interlocutors also emphasized that Lithuania's aviation sector is quite small and noted that this fact would limit the GOL's influence on this issue within the EU. ¶2. (SBU) The head of the Ministry of Environment's Air Quality Division, Vytautas Krusinskas, said that he expected serious discussion on the EU's ETS to start early next year and doubted that the EU would actually try to implement a measure that seemed so obviously to violate international obligations like the Chicago Convention. He emphasized, however, that aviation emissions are growing rapidly and that all countries need to look at ways to reduce them. ¶3. (SBU) The Director of the Transportation Ministry's Civil Aviation Department, Vidmantas Kairys, joked that the Commission "is always very ambitious," but was skeptical that the Commission would actually try to implement the ETS regime outlined in the reftel non-paper. The MFA's Foreign Trade Policy Department Director, Raimundas Karoblis, said that the Environment and Transportation Ministries would take the lead role for the GOL on this issue, adding that he hoped that the United States and EU would be able to reach mutual agreement. ¶4. (SBU) We emphasized repeatedly in our meetings that the USG shared the EU's wish to reduce aviation emissions and that ICAO was the appropriate forum for discussions on how to achieve this worthy goal. CLOUD