Parliament steps back from fight on f-gases

The European parliament has opted to avoid a serious fight with EU states over fluorinated greenhouse gases. In a second reading vote on Wednesday, the assembly rejected calls for a draft regulation to bear down much harder on uses of f-gases as well as emissions.

Eliminating one big flashpoint, the parliament ignored its own legal service and dismissed a proposal for the regulation to be placed entirely on an environment legal base. The council of ministers' decision to place clauses on labelling and specific use bans on an internal market legal base therefore stands.