BRUSSELS, MONTREAL, Muharram 7, 1438, Oct 8, 2016, SPA -- European Union lawmakers said on Friday they would keep the bloc's existing emissions trading system for flights within Europe, and would weigh a future decision to apply it to foreign carriers because the world's first global aviation pollution deal is not "ambitious" enough, Reuters reported. The European system actually reduces pollution from flights, according to EU lawmakers, while a United Nations approved deal on Thursday merely curbs it at 2020 levels. The EU ETS is a "cap and trade" system in which emissions are capped at certain levels. The deal reached by the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal allows carriers to increase emissions without limit as long as they offset them by purchasing carbon credits from designated environmental projects. "This (the ICAO deal) is historic, but unambitious," said German MEP Peter Liese, from the centre-right group, the largest, in the Brussels legislature. EU lawmakers recently passed a resolution saying intra-European flights would still be covered by the ETS. "It (the ICAO deal) is a first step of action from countries who until now didn't do so," said Bas Eickhout, a green member of the European Parliament. "But other countries are allowed to go beyond that." Two EU diplomats said the bloc was unlikely to dismantle its internal emissions trading scheme, with one calling it a 'red line.'" Industry has argued the ICAO deal should be the only emissions scheme for international aviation. But as a concession, the deal's text was drafted in a way that allows the EU to keep its scheme for flights between European countries, said two sources familiar with the matter. "Of course this ICAO deal is not enough to really decarbonise aviation," said EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc at a news conference. But "without this deal, there is no other progress." -- SPA 00:47 LOCAL TIME 21:47 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w