By Pete Harrison
LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Italy kept up the pressure to dilute European Union climate proposals on Monday, but other EU nations said they were confident the bloc would keep its plans broadly unchanged.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi shocked other EU leaders at a summit last week by unexpectedly threatening to veto EU plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions by a fifth by 2020 unless its concerns for domestic industry are met.
Rome fears the cost of combating climate change will harm its industry, already plagued by a loss of competitiveness to emerging economies.
And Italian Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo told reporters at a meeting of environment ministers on Monday she wanted proposals to include a clause allowing the package to be revised once its costs have been fully assessed.
"We have many requests for changes, including the introduction of a revision clause," she said.
But several ministers said that while Italy had raised concerns about the plan's economic impact during their discussions, it had not demanded a revision clause.
"Italy is like everybody else," said French Ecology Minister Jean Louis Borloo. "There are some points on which it cares more, and others on which it expresses it worries."
The European Commission estimates the costs for Italy would not exceed 13 billion euros ($17.48 billion), while Italy's employers lobby Confindustria has cited a cost of 20 to 27 billion euros.
EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas was quoted as saying he was "astonished" by Italy's unexpected objections to EU climate goals, which were not mentioned before last week, but Berlusconi said nine EU nations shared Rome's stance.
Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said he expected environment ministers could solve critic's concerns by December, adding that the internal debate had not been quite as fiery as the weekend's rhetoric had suggested.
"My understanding was clearly that several ministers were more critical in what they stated to the home media than they were here in discussions," he said.
Britain's newly installed Climate and Energy Minister Ed Miliband said most states wanted to agree a deal ahead of international negotiations next year in Copenhagen.
"I hope even those with some doubts can be persuaded to go forward with the 2020 package," he told Reuters.
(Additional reporting by Valentina Consiglio; editing by James Jukwey)
