(Foto: Carlo Nicora/Flickr) by Federico Guerrieri Last week the Union agreed to set aside up to 15 billion euros per year to facilitate a green transition in developing countries. However, the European Union has not a common view on how to spend the money. In fact, Eastern European countries have been firmly against the idea of linking contribution to polluting levels suggesting that the burden sharing be divided according to national income. At the European Commssion, Mikolaj Dowgielewicz told reporters that “we don't think you can make an assumption that Bulgaria or Romania will pay more than Denmark or the Netherlands because it would be purely absurd”. Greenpeace and other civil society groups (such as Concord Europe, which we have summarised in a recent post) have criticised the European Union for its decision to allocate 15 billion euro per year for climate action in developing countries. They are calling for 35 billion euro in annual public funding from the EU. Greenpeace regrets that the EU’s global funding pledge is still less than half of what is needed to prevent the worst effects of climate change. Without the promise of adequate financial support, developing countries will be unable to reduce their growth in emission. Next December (7th to 15th), the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) will take place in Copenhagen. As the Kyoto protocol will terminate by the end of 2012, this summit will be fundamental in order to find a new agreement on climate change The European Union wants to have a leadership role in solving this problem, but, as European Commission President Barroso said, “we need developed countries to put money on the table for adaptation to climate change and to help finance developing countries' mitigation efforts”. The European Union is trying to speak with one voice, and yesterday the Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, in quality of President of the European Council, has met President Obama in order to push the United States in taking stronger action in the mid-term focus. Reinfeldt is worried that with just over a month to go until the climate change conference, the UN negotiations are still moving slowly and underlines as “climate change will not wait for drawn-out negotiations. That is why everyone has a responsibility to make Copenhagen a success. The EU has placed its bid. Now others must follow suit”. The EU praises itself for its action in climate change issues, but the truth is that it still lacks coherent policy about the levels of financing it is willing to provide to developing countries and also about its position on technology cooperation, as underlined by Concord in its 2009 report “Spotlight on Policy Coherence”, which concluded that Western countries have an obligation to provide compensation to the lesser developed countries for the damage caused to the environment during their own industrialisation. WWF thinks that the EU needs “to put forward more concrete commitments and accept a larger role in helping developing nations reduce their emissions and adapt to climate impacts”. Kim Carstensen, leader of WWF’s New Global Deal on Climate Initiative said that “Europe needs to stop anticipating what the rest of the world might do and concentrate on what Europe should do if it wants to reclaim the reputation of leading in the fight against climate change”. The competiveness of the European companies should not be prioritised in the EU agenda. The EU must acknowledge its responsibility and commit to achieve the reduction of gas emission in Europe, before asking the same thing to other developed countries. Only in this case the EU will play an important and truly useful role at the Copenhagen summit.