Global IssuesFRANCE: Sarkozy - Unlikely Champion of Environmental Action
For a centre-right politician, best known for his law-and-order stance and tough immigration policies, French President Nicolas Sarkozy would seem an unlikely champion of environmental issues
But Sarkozy clearly wants to be seen as a global leader in the debate on climate change. Last month he surprised friends and foes by joining his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with a dramatic appeal to support developing countries.
He followed that up by attending the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago to forge ties with the group and he was one of the first to criticise United States President Barack Obama’s initial plan to attend the Copenhagen climate change conference near the beginning of the proceedings rather than the world summit at the end.
Sarkozy’s environment minister Jean-Louis Borloo, who has been shuttling between the Danish capital and Paris, is promoting France’s 'climate justice' proposal to give financial aid to poor countries, and he wants other wealthy nations to sign on.
'There must be a climate justice plan to allow poor countries to adapt, to achieve growth, to get out of poverty and to have access to energy,' Borloo told reporters before the summit began. 'There must be an agreement in Copenhagen. It’s absolutely vital.'
In addition, the ecology junior minister Chantal Jouanno launched this week the groundwork for an ambitious national plan of action to deal with issues ranging from flooding to the 'preservation of biodiversity'.
Sarkozy himself has been meeting with environmental groups and also trumpeting the French 'projet pour le monde' (project for the world), which was drafted by Borloo for Copenhagen. Sarkozy will travel to the conference next week.
'It would be too easy to call it a show as some people have done,' says Pascal Husting, executive director of the environmental group Greenpeace France. 'Sarkozy is actually convinced that there’s a need to change the worldwide economic system by having ‘green growth’ or croissance verte — a term we don’t like. It’s something he considers necessary.'
The president is also widely seen as having a burning desire to stand out on the international stage, outshining his peers.
'He has identified the global warming issue as one where he can triumph over Obama and he’s very much driven by this,' Husting told IPS in an interview.
Despite all the official posturing, France has yet to fully commit to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases by 30 percent, as activists have demanded, instead of the 20 percent set by the 27-member European Union.
Critics say that in discussions in Brussels both France and Germany have shown reluctance to increase the level of cuts, while Britain, Sweden and The Netherlands have indicated a willingness to agree to the higher reduction target. It is the EU as a bloc that will accept a legally binding treaty, and not countries acting unilaterally.
'The fate of Copenhagen to a large extent will be decided Friday when the EU Council meets to agree on the level of cuts of greenhouse gas emissions,' says Husting. 'It’s time to show real leadership by putting the right figures on the table.'
Both Sarkozy and Borloo have been criticised by green groups for not consulting with their EU counterparts in some of the proposals France has put forward.
France says it is willing to support a plan for an international public fund worth 10 billion US dollars annually that would help poor countries deal with the consequences of climate change. But some other EU member states do not seem as enthusiastic.
'Borloo is convinced of the need to rapidly change the whole system in depth, but he is disrespectful of ongoing processes so unfortunately he’s not heard,' says one EU analyst. 'His climate justice plan is being ignored by his European partners because he has not done it in concert with them.'
Observers say that the actions of Sarkozy and Borloo should also be seen in the light of French citizens’ stance on green issues. In last June’s European elections, for instance, French voters gave the Green coalition Europe Ecologie 16.28 percent of the vote. It was the biggest endorsement the Greens had ever received here, coming in third behind Sarkozy’s centre-right UMP and the Socialist Party.
'We have a French public opinion that’s very mature and fully aware of the stakes linked to Copenhagen, particularly the necessity to help the most vulnerable countries,' Borloo has stated. 'Furthermore, the French have shown themselves to be massively in favour of a positive ecology, a source of growth and employment. That’s the strategy France is following.'
To make the 'new generation' aware of sustainable development from a young age, Borloo has even invited four high-school students to join the official French delegation in Copenhagen.
Sarkozy himself will be holding talks with Greenpeace and other environmental groups this week to hear what they have to say before he goes to Copenhagen. He seems open to their advice since he ran for president in 2007 and met French environmental groups a day after he took office, according to Husting.
But for many French voters, the government is not doing enough. Last Saturday thousands took to the streets across the country, beating drums, pots and pans as they called upon the authorities to make sure that Copenhagen was not a failure.
With regional elections coming up in March, it’s almost certain that Sarkozy heard the message.
© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service