EU WEAKNESS IN FACING UP TO US AND CHINA EVIDENT AT COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE

After the failure in Copenhagen, many must consider what went wrong. Europe needs to rethink its international environmental strategy.

The European Union can look back at a number of green success stories. Working together with developing nations, Europe played an important role at the Rio Conference in 1992, for the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and for progress in other fields, such as control of dangerous waste under the Basel Convention and the Biosafety Protocol under the Convention on Biodiversity.

But in Copenhagen, European leaders were sidelined by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa. When the deal between Barack Obama and the emerging economies was done, the European Union faced the choice either to agree or to be accused of stopping an agreement in Copenhagen. The press conference where José Manuel Barroso and Fredrik Reinfeldt were going to present the European view was delayed for more than two hours – a sign that discussions among EU Heads of Government were not easy.

Note EU-Digest: EU leaders should be able to understand by now that "united we stand divided we fall". The US, be it under Mr. Bush or Mr. Obama is not always right and the EU is not required to follow-up on anything the US says.

Climate breakdown shows need for new EU environmental strategy « Mats Engström