Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-01-30-Speech-3-166"
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to begin by thanking you for this opportunity to debate both the results of the climate change conference held in Bali late last year and plans for what is to come after agreement on the commencement of negotiations has been reached.
We all know that some of our partners will be hard to convince. There is still a great reluctance on the part of the United States. On the other hand, we also know that progress is being made at state level, in business circles and, more generally, in the way in which public opinion perceives this issue. Climate change is already a central issue in political debate, as we can see in the current US presidential primaries.
Climate and energy will be among the priority items on the agenda for this year’s G8 summit chaired by Japan. This is expected not only to help in the announcement of a major and significant policy, but also to provide valuable opportunities that must be put to good use in the exchange of views with our partners from the industrialised nations. At the moment a lively debate is taking place in Japan on climate change. Let us use this opportunity to bring our partners closer and to demonstrate that ambition is not inconsistent with economic development or competitiveness.
Allow me to comment on the parallel courses of action. The UN will evidently remain the main negotiating forum for a post-2012 agreement on climate change, at which point the final agreement will need to be reached. More specifically, bearing in mind the limited resources and means available to us, as well as the very short time period that remains, we must ensure that all these international forums and action plans are used strategically in order to support and complement the UN plan of action without undermining it in any way whatsoever. We simply cannot afford to duplicate efforts or waste time when the UN action plan has to a certain extent already evolved.
We also need to work more closely with our partners from developing countries in order to plan carefully for their participation in and contribution to a future agreement. As was evident even in Bali, the development issue will be at the centre of negotiations: this is why our main challenge will be to build on mutual trust. The developing countries, the most advanced ones at least, are willing to take action. They will do so provided only that the developed countries fulfil their existing and new commitments to reduce emissions. The developed countries must also open up access for developing countries either to technology or, more generally, to funding.
In view of this, we must collaborate closely with the emerging economies in order to find the best combination of methods and incentives to ensure that these economies make fairly ambitious contributions, which will lead to even more serious efforts on their part after 2020. Bilateral cooperation and dialogue with important countries such as China and India will be of crucial importance.
Finally, I should like to say that the package of measures on climate and energy is evidence of our determination to progress from words to deeds; it also demonstrates that this can be done in a fair and economically effective manner, allowing everyone to be a winner. This, I believe, is the best way to influence our partners positively.
First of all, I should like to express my admiration for the active role played by the European Parliament, and the support it has given, before and during the conference. The contacts and meetings we had with your delegation throughout the course of the conference proved exceptionally useful. I should especially like to stress the very important role of the European Parliament in providing information to officials from other countries. We certainly need mutual support to communicate and more broadly disseminate the EU’s position, which is a decisive element in maintaining our leading role. This was particularly useful in Bali and will prove even more so over the next two years.
As for the Bali results themselves, I should like to begin by saying that the conference has been an unqualified success, since at the outset of negotiations all the important countries arrived at an agreement on climate change for the post-2012 period. The agreement will be finalised in 2009 and will cover all the fundamental elements which the EU has resolutely sought.
We thus have a basis and a much-needed impetus to start negotiations so that an agreement can be reached on climate change. We are aiming for an agreement that will lead to drastic reductions in global emissions, in a first phase by 2020, and to still greater reductions thereafter. We are therefore satisfied with the overall result, which is fully consistent with our common aims for Bali.
The participation of the United States in the Bali discussions is a clear sign that it intends to play an active role in negotiations. Just as important as the Bali decision, however, is the emphasis placed for the first time on the need for developing countries to take active measures.
The leading, not to say mediating, role played by the EU, together with the perceptive and constructive input of certain developing countries such as Brazil and South Africa, were of crucial importance in bringing about this result. From now on, our aim is to achieve agreement for a future framework on climate change at the 2009 Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen. Of course, we also aim to match our ambitions based on scientific findings.
Let us make no mistake: the road to Copenhagen will be long and difficult. Above all, the EU must continue to play a leading role, as it did successfully in the preparations for the Bali conference; it placed its cards on the table in the run up to the conference, showed us what course we should take and persuaded others of its views before the main conference had started. The EU significantly influenced the conference’s positive outcome. We must bear this in mind when looking ahead to Copenhagen.
The Commission’s proposals accepted last week on the package of measures on climate and renewable sources of energy do exactly this; they prove that the EU is determined to make progress. I rely on your support and determination within the framework of the legislative procedure just begun to approve the package of measures before the end of the current parliamentary term and well before Copenhagen. Over the next two years we really must maintain the great political pressure being brought to bear on the issue, for it proved exceptionally useful in 2007. Good use of all the opportunities must be made to ensure that attention to the issue does not wane, both at European level and, more importantly, at international level.
If we are to reach an agreement before the end of 2009, we will clearly need to work together more closely and even more strategically with our primary partners. This is true of our partners from developed countries most of all, because we must ensure that they display greater willingness in making more determined progress towards drastically reducing emissions. Without such efforts we know that it will clearly be difficult to persuade developing countries to commit to further action. We must therefore use all the available international forums, including G8 summits, meetings between the major economies and bilateral dialogues, to guarantee and secure their agreement and to guide them determinedly in this direction."@en1
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