Brussels, 12/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - Whatever the United States might say, the EU says the climate deal to be reached at the COP21 in Paris should be binding, be it the entire deal or the most important measures, such as the contributions to be made by the different countries and the review clause.
At a press conference on Thursday 12 November, the European Commission and COP21 presidency were asked for a reaction to the statement by US secretary of state John Kerry that the Paris talks would certainly not lead to a legally binding international treaty.
“The EU wants a dynamic, binding and ambitious agreement. Its position has not changed,” said Anna-Kaisa Itkonen in Brussels, a spokesperson for EU Climate Action Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, adding that the legal form of the agreement (protocol, agreement or treaty) remained to be seen.
France says any deal has to be binding. Speaking in Malta on the fringes of an EU-Africa summit on migration (see separate article), the French president, François Hollande, struck a similar tone: He said his presence there was not to deal with emergencies but to find sustainable solutions and if the agreement is not legally binding, then there won't be an agreement because it would mean that it would not be possible to verify or monitor the commitments made. Hollande, who will be chairing COP21, said he understood the problems of the United States and its Congress, but stressed the need for a binding agreement in the sense that commitments made will have to be binding and the various countries contributions (INDCs) could be regularly reviewed to achieve the maximum 2 degree trajectory. It is positive that China now backs a binding agreement with a five-year revision clause (see EUROPE 11423). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)