Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-12-16-Speech-3-030"
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"en.20091216.3.3-030"2
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"Mr President, just two remarks: the first on Copenhagen, and the other on the successful Swedish Presidency. First of all, regarding Copenhagen, I am also very surprised when I see many European colleagues with a self-defeating rhetoric. In fact, if there is a field where we can be proud of the leadership role of the European Union, it is precisely on climate change. Show me one relevant player or a group of countries that have committed as far as we have been committing ourselves.
As I said earlier, some others have announced their intentions through press statements. The European Union has announced its intentions through legislation which is already binding: legislation which originated from the European Commission, which received the support of the European Council and of this Parliament, and – unilaterally and unconditionally – the European Union has already put the reduction of greenhouse gases at 20% by 2020. No other player has done anything comparable so far. So let us ask others to do something similar to our effort.
Is this enough to reach the 2 °C? No, it is not enough. That is why we are telling others that we can negotiate with each other. Politicians and diplomats can negotiate, but we cannot negotiate with science; we cannot negotiate with physics. So let us have a global deal which allows us to reach an agreement compatible with what science tells us. That cannot be done only by Europe, because Europe is responsible for about 14% of global emissions, and the trend is to go down in relevant terms. So, even if Europe, tomorrow, stops completely its greenhouse gas emissions, it will not solve the problem.
So we need Americans on board, we need Chinese on board, we need Indians on board. During these six months, together with Prime Minister Reinfeldt, we spoke with Obama; we spoke with Hu and Wen; we spoke with Singh; we spoke with Medvedev; we spoke with Lola. And I can say that, in all those meetings, we were the ones asking them to come with more important offers.
This is what we are now doing at Copenhagen – not to forget – because sometimes people tend to forget – that it is not just a game between those players but also with developing countries: the poorest, most vulnerable, the African countries. We also spoke with Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and others. That is why the European Union was the first to put some money on the table.
So let us be honest with each other. We can always have more ambition, and the European Union has been showing its ambition. But let us ask also for more ambition from others, because only with this ambition can we have a deal which is compatible with our ambition. It is a global problem and we need a global solution.
Finally, let me say a word to Prime Minister Reinfeldt and the Swedish Presidency. This is the last time we will have a President of the European Council only for six months, so it was the end of many years of European Union work. I want to say – and I said it to President Reinfeldt during these six months – that he was the 11th President of the European Council with whom I have worked, so I really welcome the fact that now we are going to have a permanent President of the European Council.
But I would like to say to Prime Minster Reinfeldt that he was the 11th in the order of working with the Commission, but certainly he deserves a place on the podium as one of the best presidencies we have had during this period for the European Union. Thank you for everything you and the Swedish Presidency have been doing during these six months."@en1
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