United, but not yet coherent

An array of officials from different EU institutions will converge on Bali, writes Jennifer Rankin.

The EU will be well represented at Bali but, as ever questions remain over how the institutional puzzle fits together. The pre-eminent role in the talks will be played by the environment ministers from the EU’s member states, who will attend the final days of the conference. National delegations will vary in size from two to 40 people and the Council of Ministers will send a secretariat of three people to assist co-ordination.

The European Commission is sending 54 people to Bali, including Commissioner Stavros Dimas, plus another six from the Commission’s delegation in Jakarta. Most will come from the Commission’s environment department (DG Environment), which will supply around 20 officials, plus others from research, external relations, trade and economic and financial affairs. DG Environment is sending fewer people to Bali than it sent to the UNFCCC conferences in Nairobi and Montreal. Officials at the Commission’s environment department say that this is part of a conscious effort to keep carbon emissions to a minimum: "We have reduced our delegation to a minimum without making its effectiveness suffer," said one.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is sending three of its members to Bali. They will not pursue an independent agenda from the rest of the EU, but will join the Commission’s delegation. The EESC argues that climate change must be better incorporated into the Lisbon Agenda for economic growth. Derek Osborn, the head of the EESC delegation, says that "our primary purpose is to learn and see what our colleagues and civil society are aspiring to".

For EU officials each day at Bali will start with a meeting led by Portugal, the current holder of the EU presidency, assisted by the Commission. National governments may be asked to use their contacts and expertise in particular areas to help the talks proceed. EU insiders argue that the delegation is very effective because it negotiates as one bloc from an agreed position. But some researchers point to difficulties with how the EU operates at these big events. Louise van Schaik, a research fellow at Clingendael (the Netherlands Institute of Foreign Relations), says: "We still have the question that the EU is very much in the process of defining itself, defining its own position and with not much time to see what others want. It takes up so much energy to have a coherent position."

By the time the EU delegation goes to the crucial climate-change conference in Copenhagen in 2009, the new high representative for foreign affairs and security policy (the EU foreign minister who will also be a commissioner) may have to be drawn into the picture. The post of high representative will be created by the yet-to-be ratified EU reform treaty, but Van Schaik says that the person’s role at such international conferences is not clearly defined. Climate change falls under the environment chapter of the new treaty rather than the foreign policy chapter. The role will depend on what the Council of Ministers and the Commission allow.

An array of officials from different EU institutions will converge on Bali, writes Jennifer Rankin.