Czech Republic to appeal emissions cuts

via Business Week:

The Czech Republic said Monday it would appeal cuts the European Commission made to how much carbon dioxide it can release from 2008 to 2012, making it the second EU nation after Slovakia to threaten court action over the emissions plan.

The European Union's executive arm reduced the Czech yearly limit by 14.8 percent below what Prague had asked for... EU regulators made even deeper cuts to the Polish proposed maximum -- by more than a quarter -- but accepted France's proposed cap after Paris withdrew earlier plans for a higher limit.

(...) "I'll inform the government Wednesday and one of my proposals will be to lodge a suit against the Commission's decision," Trade Minister Martin Riman said in a statement.

Economic growth in both Poland and the Czech Republic is greater than in other parts of the EU, like France.

Luboš Motl sums it up on his blog:

The Czech Republic and perhaps Poland are planning to join Slovakia and sue the bastards in the EU who want to eco-terrorize the new members for whom the higher growth is necessary in order to catch up with the rest of Europe. Indeed, the recent growth in Czechia, Slovakia, and Poland was about twice the growth in the Western Europe and the Eurobureaucrats want to punish the new members for this growth.

The politics of the left. Punish the successful.