EU to improve its negotiating technique for climate change meetings

The European Union attended the climate change summit in Copenhagen in December “well prepared and at the forefront” of environmental policies, said Moratinos, and would have liked its positions to have been better represented.
 
As a result, the General Affairs Council, which met on Monday in Brussels, chaired by the Spanish Minister, carried out a political discussion into how to better defend the EU's positions in the upcoming climate meetings in Germany and Mexico.
 
The ministers of foreign affairs of the EU-27 led on this issue, because they are beginning to prepare for the next summit of EU Heads of States and Governments 25 and 26 March in Brussels, at which the two main points on the agenda will be climate change and the 2020 sustainable growth strategy.
 
“The conclusion is that the EU continues to lead the fight against climate change and is determined to defend its positions. We are now making improvements in order to achieve better agreements in Bonn and in Cancun”, explained the Minister at the press conference.
 
The Danish Commissioner for Climate Change, Connie Hedegaard, together with Moratinos, stressed that the EU as a whole should outline its positions more clearly at these types of events.
 
The “2020 Strategy”, which contains the economic lines of action for the next decade, was also analysed by the European ministers.
 
“The proposals made by the President of the Council, Herman Van Rompuy, in February have been welcomed. We are awaiting the comments of the Commission for the next meeting of the General Affairs Council on 22 March and to successfully draft a set of conclusions for the Summit”, said Moratinos.