European Council President Charles Michel is ready to take the time needed for the first European summit he will lead since taking office in early December, in order to convince the leaders of the three Member States – Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic – who are still reluctant to join the objective of the European Union achieving climate neutrality by 2050 as of Thursday 12 December.
“There are still ongoing discussions that are needed with a number of countries on the issue of climate change”, Mr Michel told reporters, hoping that the EU will be able to send a strong “political signal” to COP25, which is still ongoing in Madrid.
To convince the three countries that are still reluctant to join an initiative of nine Member States launched ahead of the Sibiu European Summit in early May, the European Council will recognise the need to mobilise substantial financial resources (EIB involvement, EU budget, InvestEU fund, Just Transition Fund) to ensure a socially just transition that does not put European companies at a disadvantage compared to their international competitors.
This is reflected in the draft conclusions of 9 December, of which EUROPE has largely provided details (see EUROPE 12387/6) and which, according to a European source, is almost finalised.
It will also be necessary to “take into account the different starting points of the Member States”, said Mr Michel.
Poland, which does not dispute the ambitious climate objectives already set for the EU, is of the opinion that a Just Transition Mechanism with a financial envelope commensurate with the challenges can be a step in the right direction to ensure a socially just transition in regions heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
The European Council will also reaffirm the right of the Twenty-Seven to decide on their own energy mix. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš warned on Thursday that climate neutrality could not be achieved without nuclear energy.
The presentation of the European Green Deal by the European Commission on the eve of the European Summit is also intended to give assurances to the three recalcitrant countries (see other news).
"All Member States are ambitious” and intend to respect the Paris Agreement, but “it is necessary to provide them with support in the context of the transition”, a European diplomatic source said.
However, the EU summit is not expected to go into detail on the costing of EU financial support for the transition to climate neutrality. “The discussion will not be a debate on the multiannual financial framework, but a debate on climate”, warned this source, considering that “the big bargain” on the post-2020 budget, which is also on the agenda of the European Council, would take place later.
“It is not impossible for the climate talks to continue on Thursday evening. [...] But this cannot be mixed with the discussion on the financial framework”, confirmed a senior national diplomat.
Several countries, including Spain, are of the opinion that the link made by some countries between the climate issue and the EU budget after 2020 is a bad approach.
Constructive ambiguity. In addition to the question of the semantic difference between climate neutrality and carbon, it is not clear whether the objective of climate neutrality by 2050 concerns the EU as a whole or each individual Member State within the EU.
When questioned, two senior diplomats simply reported a “constructive ambiguity” on Wednesday. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with the editorial staff)