CLIMATE: EU CONCERNED ABOUT US MANDATE AT

UNCLAS BRUSSELS 001339 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV KGHG PREL EUN SUBJECT: CLIMATE: EU CONCERNED ABOUT US MANDATE AT COPENHAGEN REF: A) STATE 97542 B)BRUSSELS 1334 This message is sensitive, but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) Econoff raised ref. A points in separate meetings with Nancy Kontou, Chief of Staff to Environment Commissioner Dimas (September 25) and Jos Delbeke, Deputy Director General for Environment (September 23). Both expressed concern that U.S. negotiators will not have a legitimate negotiating mandate in Copenhagen due the lack of progress of legislation in the Senate. Delbeke said "the Chinese and Indians are moving forward. It would be odd if the U.S., which had been moving the fastest in the beginning, were not able to stand up in Copenhagen." Kontou likened the process to "a jigsaw puzzle: if the U.S. makes a commitment, it would be easier for China to say that domestic action will clearly be reflected in an international agreement." She added that "we need a commitment from the U.S." "to get a commitment from developing countries." She continued "the hope is that the U.S. will go to Copenhagen and say that it is willing to commit to do X. The question is will the U.S. be able to do that." ¶2. (SBU) Kontou however was more upbeat in public remarks following discussion on September 29 with Congressman Markey via video link. (See ref. B.) During a September 30 roundtable discussion with Robert Stavins, Director of Harvard,s International Climate Project, she said "the U.S. will be in a position to make a meaningful pledge with regard to structure and target ) the more advanced the Senate debate, the more comfortable the international community will be." Delbeke, speaking at the same conference, was less sanguine. Referring to the Bangkok conference, he said Jonathan Pershing &was talking structures, not numbers. If the U.S. doesn't come to Copenhagen with numbers, no one else ) especially China and India ) will." ¶3. (SBU) Both Kontou and Delbeke said they understood the domestic process and offered EU assistance where possible. Kontou said "We know this is a difficult position for Todd Stern. If we can help to move things forward in the Senate, to make things more productive, we are happy to do so." She brought up the recent Guardian article which depicted a U.S.-EU climate split and said "that wasn,t us"; we told our press officials "that we should not be giving out this message to the media." ¶4. (SBU) On September 30, the Charge d'Affaires delivered ref. A points to Members of the European Parliament's Committee for U.S. Relations. Like Kontou and Delbeke, the MEPs asked what the U.S. planned to bring to Copenhagen. On MEP demanded to know what the U.S. reduction target will be, what the base year will be and how much money will the U.S. dedicate for developing countries. In a separate meeting, parliamentary staffers acknowledged that negative comments were counterproductive and asked what messages would resonate positively in the U.S., particularly on the Hill. Several of the staffers also concurred on the need to engage China. Murray .