Voynet lays blame at door of US

The french Environment Minister, Ms Dominique Voynet, yesterday laid the blame for the failure on Saturday of the UN climate change conference in The Hague firmly at the door of the United States.

Having responded angrily to the accusation by the British Deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, that she had sabotaged the summit Ms Voynet told the daily Liberation that "those most responsible . . . were obviously . . . the US".

She appears to have held out for a better deal at The Hague in the hope that Vice President Al Gore might yet win the US election. Mr Gore was one of the architects of the 1997 Kyoto accord limiting greenhouse gases, while George W. Bush is reported here to have "suckled on an oil derrick".

Standing up to the US and Britain is a sure way to win public support here. Even President Jacques Chirac - in theory a political adversary of Ms Voynet - defended her yesterday. Speaking in Helsinki, where he had stopped on a tour of EU capitals prior to the Nice summit, Mr Chirac said the French EU presidency "functioned perfectly" at The Hague.

Ms Voynet told Liberation: "For three years we had a dialogue of the deaf: for the United States, the American way of life was not up for negotiation . . . We started to challenge the United States. It started to move. It is no longer keeping up a position of inflexible arrogance."

"It is better to take a few months more to obtain an agreement that really puts in place effective measures than to conclude something spineless under the pressure of American industry," she said.

In French eyes, Britain broke ranks with Europe to defend its US ally. "It is sad that once again a British representative has seen fit to back commercial interests and throw his weight behind the US position," said Mr Francois Loncle, who heads the National Assembly's foreign affairs committee.

The Foreign Minister, Mr Hubert Vedrine, predicted that unless Washington "assumes its responsibilities", carbon dioxide emissions will become "a serious problem between Europeans and Americans".

Ms Voynet, who trained as a medical doctor, has repeatedly clashed with French hunters, farmers and lorry drivers.