The German and Polish governments announced on 9 December that they were close to an agreement on the EU's plan to reduce CO_2 emissions, increasing the chance of an agreement at the European Council Summit at the end of this week.rn"The probability of a veto has lessened," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a joint press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. "With some goodwill and hard work, I can express cautious optimism."rnPoland and other eastern European states have threatened to veto the EU's climate package if their dependence on coal to produce electricity is not taken into account. They are against the plan to charge power generators for all emission permits from 2013 under the EU's emission trading scheme (EU-ETS). Poland is concerned that the auctioning of those permits will push up domestic electricity prices, preventing new member states from catching up with the richer western countries.
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