Plenty to Talk About
November 3, 2006
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to press German Chancellor Angela Merkel Friday to use her country's influence to do more about climate change, his spokesman said ahead of talks between the two leaders.
As of January, Germany assumes both the presidency of the European Union as well as leadership of the G8, and Blair wants to move the issues further up the agenda after his government published a major report this week stating that global warming could cost the world's economies up to 20 percent of their gross domestic product.
"The prime minister will want to talk about how to take forward the work on energy and climate change as priorities for the EU and G8," a British spokesman told the AFP news agency.
For her part, however, Merkel is expected to push the discussions with Blair on foreign policy, including situations in the Middle East, Darfur and Iran, where both Britain and Germany are among six countries grappling to defuse a standoff with Tehran over its nuclear plans.
But that is unlikely to stop Blair from bearing down on climate change, which a spokesperson said he sees as a critical part of Europe's overall security.
The prime minister believes there is a "real opportunity" for the EU to agree a new energy and climate change strategy, the spokesperson added.
Fighting climate change and pushing for a new international pact against global warming will be near the top of the agenda Friday evening. Merkel, a former environment minister in the cabinet of former chancellor Helmut Kohl, indicated she would make climate change a priority next year, especially while Germany hold the six-month rotating EU presidency.
Environmental pact must include the US
"There is a real opportunity for the bloc to agree on a bold new European energy and climate strategy that reduces our dependence on carbon fuels, increases the diversity of energy supplies and increases energy efficiency based on new clean technologies," a Blair spokesman told Reuters on Friday.
Experts said it could take at least three years to negotiate a successor to the UN's Kyoto Protocol that calls for curbing greenhouse emissions, and runs out by 2012. According to the Britain's The Independent, Blair has set himself the task of negotiating a replacement for the Kyoto agreement before he is expected to leave office next year.
Both Blair and Merkel agree that a post-Kyoto framework must include the United States, the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases, as well as huge developing nations such as India and China.
Foreign policy, EU construction also on agenda
The leaders are also likely to discuss Afghanistan, where Taliban fighters have mounted an increasingly deadly campaign against British-led NATO forces in the south. Germany also has a major presence there.
The future of the EU constitution is also expected to be on the agenda Friday evening. Merkel said her government would concentrate on working out a timeline for the revival of the constitution, which was by voters in France and the Netherlands last year.
Britain, which did not take a vote on ratifying the document, is opposed to bringing the constitution back to life in its current form. All of the 25 EU member states must approve the constitution for it to come into effect.