EU Ministers Discuss Funding Environment Projects
欧盟召开环境会议拟减少温室气体
European environmental ministers met in Luxembourg to discuss ways to significantly cut greenhouse-gas emissions - without hurting economies struggling with the current financial crisis.
欧盟各国环境部长在卢森堡开会，商讨采取什么措施能大幅度减少温室气体，而同时又不伤害正在金融危机中挣扎的各国经济。
The European Union members discussed goals agreed to last year by the 27-member bloc to slash greenhouse-gas emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels by the year 2020.
欧盟成员国讨论了去年27个成员国一致同意的目标，也就是到2020年之前把温室气体排放量在1990年的水平上减少20%。
But the European Union is facing another problematic climate as the world wrestles with the worst financial crisis in decades. Italy and several other eastern European countries worry they will not be able to afford making the proposed emissions cuts.
可是，随着全世界都在应对几十年来最严重的金融危机，欧盟正处于另一个困难的环境之中。意大利和几个东欧国家担心，他们无法达到计划中减少废气排放的目标。
Italy and Poland have warned they may veto the final EU climate change agreement if it is not to their liking. During the meeting in Luxembourg, Italian Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo told reporters the agreement was unsuitable in its present form.
意大利和波兰警告说，如果他们对欧盟气候变化协议感到不满意，他们有可能否决最后达成的协议。在卢森堡召开的这次气候变化会议期间，意大利环境部长普雷斯蒂贾科莫对记者说，这项协议目前的形式是不合适的。
But other ministers said they believed the final climate-change agreement would be largely unchanged.
不过其他部长认为，这项气候变化协议最后不会有什么变动。
The Europeans are racing to finalize their package before a U.N. climate change meeting in December. A number of EU countries, including Britain, along with the U.N. climate-change panel, believe it is important the Europeans stick to their greenhouse cutting goals and show leadership in this area.
欧盟国家正在竭力争取在联合国12月召开气候变化会议之前最后确定它们的气候变化协议。包括英国在内的几个欧盟成员国以及联合国气候变化委员会都认为，欧盟国家按计划执行其温室气体减排目标，在这方面显示领导作用是非常重要的。
European environment commission Stavros Dimas also objected to watering down the EU's objectives, as he made clear during remarks to the press this month.
欧盟环境专员斯塔夫罗.迪马斯也反对欧盟降低废气减排目标，他这个月向新闻界表态时明确表示了这点。
"I am confident that an agreement will be settled by the end of this year and keeping to this timing is important, since we need to give to the international community a clear signal the European Union is on target to meet its own climate commitments," he said.
迪马斯说：“我有信心，今年年底之前将达成协议，遵守这个时间表非常重要，因为我们需要给国际社会一个明确的信号，也就是欧盟在履行它对气候变化的承诺方面是按计划进行的。”
The EU meeting coincided with a new report by the environmental group the World Wide Fund for Nature claiming that climate change was increasing faster than predicted, with serious consequences in Europe and elsewhere.
欧盟举行这次会议的同时，环保组织世界自然基金会公布了一份新的报告。报告称，气候变化的速度要比预期的越来越快，对欧洲和其他地区产生严重后果。
