During their summit in Brussels on 20-21 October, the EU heads of state and government are expected to assert that the European Union’s ratification of the Paris Agreement is a very good thing and that the focus now needs to be on implementation of this agreement.
The subject will be discussed briefly on Friday 21 October, as part of the follow-up of the Bratislava roadmap. European leaders are expected to be pleased that their call for this universal agreement to be ratified swiftly did not fall on deaf ears. This will help towards the agreement's entry into force on 4 November. It is possible that they will call on the member states that have not yet submitted their UN ratification instruments to do so as soon as possible. So far, 19 countries out of 28 have already carried out this task or will be doing so before the beginning of the COP 22 in Marrakesh on 7-18 November.
European leaders will highlight the importance represented by the legislative proposals on the table for implementing the Paris Agreement (reform of the ETS, burden sharing between member states in the sectors outside ETS, a specific proposal on the contribution made by agriculture and forestry, and the decarbonisation of transport) (see EUROPE 11647), as well as the next raft of legislation expected as part of the Energy Union (revision of the energy efficiency directive, renewable energies, building energy performance).
European leaders are expected to point out that they will continue to provide the strategic guidelines on these proposals as explained by the European Council in October 2014, as part of the Climate/Energy 2030 framework and reiterated by the Special Environment Council on 30 September, dedicated to the ratification of the Paris Agreement (see EUROPE 11636). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)