Brussels, 09/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, called for a united Europe “at the forefront of the fight against climate change”, with a view to COP 21 (30 November - 11 December), but what he had planned to say about “the extremely important issue of climate change”, before the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday 9 September, had to be summed up in “just a few words”.
The reason for this is that his lengthy state of the Union address, which was largely devoted to the refugee crisis, had to be cut short to leave time for debates with the MEPs.
“We need to be very ambitious, ahead of the Paris conference. We are making major efforts to resolve the question which could be behind new waves of climate refugees. Tomorrow, we mustn't be surprised to see the first climate refugees arriving on our shores”, he warned.
He added: “I want the EU and its member states to be as ambitious as possible, but the EU must not sign an agreement at any price. Our aim must be an ambitious agreement, a good agreement on the climate. Europe must not be neutral on an issue like this, it must set an example”.
The full version of the speech he should have read out speaks even greater volumes. “Let me be very clear to our international partners: the EU will not sign just any deal. My priority, Europe's priority, is to adopt an ambitious, robust and binding global climate deal”, states the text of the speech, which was made available to MEPs and the press.
The President of the Commission had also intended to point out that with an offer to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 figures, the EU had made a clear pledge back in March, when it presented the UN with the “most ambitious contribution presented to date”, and had planned to conclude by stressing that his Commission would “work to ensure Europe keeps leading in the fight against climate change. We will practise what we preach”. (Aminata Niang)