Brussels, 10/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - The European Council opened in the late afternoon of Thursday 10 December 2009 with the traditional meeting between EU heads of state and the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek. Speaking about climate change and the UN's COP 15 conference underway in Copenhagen, Buzek called on Europe's leaders to 'put a figure on the table' and say how much cash they will be coughing up in immediate aid for developing countries in 2010 to 2012 before the hoped-for replacement to the Kyoto Protocol comes into force on 1 January 2013. 'Putting a figure o the table,' Buzek told the 27, will be a 'decisive' step for success of the Copenhagen talks (that will be continuing until 18 December 2009). 'It is in your hands now to send this signal to Copenhagen,' he added, noting that the EU 'cost burden must be shared fairly' among Member States.
Buzek talked about the Lisbon Treaty: 'We must get down to implementing its provisions quickly and efficiently,' adding that the post-2010 Lisbon Strategy (aka the EU's 2020 Strategy) for a competitive EU economy into the long-term has to get the EU out of the economic crisis and prevent further such crises in the future. The EP President hoped the second Barroso Commission would be able to start work as soon as possible but that didn't mean it should be any 'less thorough,' he warned, when it comes to MEPs interviewing candidates for the post of Commissioners in the hearings at the EP starting on 11 January 2010.
Greek public finance. The yawning public deficit in Greece is of great concern to the financial markets but it probably not a matter for formal EU leaders' talks, argued the Swedish Presidency on Thursday: 'It's a domestic problem which needs to be addressed by domestic decisions,' commented the Swedish prime minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, upon arrival at the European Council. 'I'm not sure that this will come up tonight,' he added a. (H.B. trans fl)