The General Affairs Council, which met on Monday in Brussels, chaired by the Spanish Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, carried out a political discussion into how to better defend the EU's positions in the upcoming climate meetings in Germany and Mexico.

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.

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 European Union already plays a leading role in the global fight against climate change. In December 2008 the EU adopted an integrated energy and climate change policy, setting ambitious targets for 2020. COP15 meeting in Copenhagen in December, was expected to finalise an international agreement on a framework for combating climate change for the period after 2012.

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.