Brussels, 24/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - “We need to learn lessons from Copenhagen”. A few days ahead of the world climate conference in Cancun (COP 16, 29 November -10 December), this was the phrase on everybody's lips at the Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, during the debate to prepare for the negotiations. But not everybody will be learning the same lesson. Although the MEPs unanimously want the EU to sing from the same hymn sheet, some of them are calling for an increase in the European ambitions (a reduction of emissions of 30% by 2020) without waiting for the others to move, in the very interests of competitiveness, green growth and employment in the EU. Others are calling for realism in order to appear more credible and to increase the chances of achieving a global climate agreement which is legally binding in Johannesburg next year (COP 17, 2012). Still others - the climate sceptics - call for European competitiveness not to be sacrificed on the altar of “propaganda”. The text of the resolution to be voted on this Thursday will constitute the political message of the Parliament for Cancun, where a large delegation of MEPs will travel.
Addressing the plenary session, Joke Schauvliege, president of the Environment Council, and Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, reiterated their determination to “speak with one voice” and repeated that after Copenhagen, the EU decided to move forward on a step-by-step basis. “We can no longer practise an all-or-nothing policy”, Schauvliege said. What needs to be done in Cancun is to lay “the foundations for a post-2012 framework”. Given the slow progress of negotiations, Cancun will not lead to a legally binding text. “But the text before Cancun must be balanced to satisfy the needs of the developed and developing countries”, she warned. The objective of the negotiations will be to achieve a result balancing the requirements of the Kyoto protocol and a new framework. “The EU continues to hold the view that a binding instrument is the best way of giving content”, but the failure to agree in Copenhagen must encourage the EU to show flexibility regarding the second commitment period of the Kyoto protocol, even if the conditions laid down for this eventuality have been little respected. The president also stressed the need to restore the confidence of the developing countries and voiced her hopes that the €2.2 billion already made available by the EU in 2010 will serve this objective. Connie Hedegaard went even further, calling on the EU to “use these last few days before Cancun” to mobilise the extra €200 million “to keep to our commitments”. In her view, “it is clear that a legally binding agreement is not the result we must anticipate from Cancun, because the others are not ready”. Welcoming the advice laid down in the draft EP resolution, she added that “not all of the proposals are possible”, such as the one calling for an objective other than 2°C. “Our priority is not to re-open Copenhagen”, she said. (A.N./transl.fl)