By Martin Banks - 1st December 2009
“Both have guarded their territory, rather than cooperated
Daniel Cohn-Bendit
The EU's new foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has been urged to intervene to help broker a deal in the Copenhagen climate talks.
The appeal, by the Greens political group in parliament, came on Tuesday as Ashton officially started her new job.
Greens leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit told journalists that one area where she could "test overcoming the current fragmentation of external policy help is climate change".
"So far the EU's environmental policies have been mainly domestic and focused on persuading other states to support its position on international climate talks," he said.
"The council has been responsible for international climate negotiations and the commission for internal policies.
"Both have guarded their territory, rather than cooperated."
Cohn-Bendit said that, "with the prospects of a meaningful deal at the climate talks in Copenhagen diminishing", Ashton had an important role to play.
In particular, he said she could "help develop approaches to overcome the EU's fragmented approach to climate change" and coordinate closely with the new commissioners responsible for climate and energy.
He said she could also "integrate the climate change agenda into all bilateral relations in a stronger way".
Ashton should concentrate at the start of her mandate on the Balkans and the "still politically and institutionally unstable countries" in the region, Cohn-Bendit added.
Ashton, a former EU trade commissioner, faces her first big test on Wednesday when she appears before parliament's foreign affairs committee.
