EU Position for UN Climate Summit Nailed Down

European Union (EU) leaders on Sunday agreed on a common negotiating position for the upcoming UN climate change summit, expressing openness to a new phase of the Kyoto climate change pact but only under certain conditions.

The Kyoto Protocol currently serves as the only legally binding global treaty to tackle global warming and climate change, whose first phase is about to expire at the end of next year.

"It is urgent to agree on a process towards a comprehensive legally binding framework and a clear time line, ensuring global participation including from major economies," said the conclusions of Sunday's summit in Brussels.

The second phase of the Kyoto pact should be "part of a transition to such a framework," the conclusions said.

This year the 17th conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is scheduled to be held from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9 in Durban, South Africa.

The details of the EU's position for the Durban summit had been outlined by the economic and financial affairs council on Oct. 4 and the environment council on Oct. 10, both held in Luxemburg, and Sunday's summit endorsed the results of the two councils.

"The European Union will work towards an ambitious and balanced outcome at the Durban conference," the conclusions said.

Greenpeace EU climate policy director Joris den Blanken said earlier that it was "encouraging" to see the EU support a continued Kyoto Protocol, adding that extending it beyond 2012 would be crucial to unlocking international climate negotiations.

So far most developing countries are in favor of extending the Kyoto pact while developed countries including the United States, Russia and Australia have made it clear that they will not support any continuation of the pact.

The Kyoto Protocol was signed but never ratified by the United States, the largest emitter in developed world.

Apart from the positions for the climate change conference in Durban and the G20 top leaders' summit in the French city of Cannes, Sunday's European Council summit mainly focused on a comprehensive plan for tackling the debt crisis in the euro zone, but major breakthroughs were not expected to come out until another follow-up summit on Wednesday.