The 16th EGP Council has begun in Copenhagen, with a public discussion of the aftermath of the Arab Spring organised by the Greens in the European Parliament, with special guest Villy Søvndal, Danish Foreign Affairs Minister and leader of host Party SF. (The event was livestreamed and the recording can be seen here).

The Council begins properly tomorrow morning with another discussion with the Greens in the EP on the role of Green jobs in solving Europe’s employment crisis. Discussion of the resolutions on a wide variety of areas will take place in the plenary session on Friday, with voting on Sunday. Key policies on the Social aspects of the Green New Deal form the core of discussion for the weekend, with sessions on pensions policy and strengthening European society through social inclusion. On Sunday we consider the role of a reformed agricultural sector in the GND’s plan for a more sustainable Europe. Parallel workshop sessions and meetings of the EGP’s networks and working groups complete a busy schedule. On the social side, Friday night sees a social dinner with buffet and a scenic evening walk past Christiania to our social venue for a night of music and dancing. On Sunday we round things off with a bike tour of central Copenhagen before delegates head back home to spread the Green message to their member parties.

You can follow the latest updates from council via our twitter and facebook, and we will also bring you a Council roundup newsletter at the end of the week.

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Materials:  http://www.foeeurope.org/chernobyl-solidarity-ECI-launch-260412

This weekend was abuzz with talks of a looming Durban Mandate that would be crystallised as one of the outcomes of the Climate talks.  As delegates try to make sense of the unfolding drama there are strong indications that the talks will end with a political declaration that would essentially lock the world into inaction over the next decade.

It was for precisely this reason that more than ten thousand people took to the streets of Durban on Saturday, 3 December 2011, to demonstrate civil society’s determination for a common goal: climate justice. Protesters from across the world marched, sang, danced and displayed disdain towards the polluters’ unwillingness to recognise that there is no “planet B.”

One of the groups that stood out in the march was the Waste Pickers Association. They see themselves as key actors in the fight against global warming as they engage in rubbish sorting, recycling and reuse. Their clarion call was that their towns should not be incinerated, a direct reflection of their demand for the halting of polluting rubbish incineration. They are  a growing workforce with full official recognition in South Africa.

During a stop on the march outside the climate talks venue, the president of the Conference of Parties (COP), Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, was addressed by representatives from various groups including Friends of Earth International.

Speakers  made strong calls for negotiators and governments to realise that the COP was not meant to be a Conference of Polluters but one to take real action to combat a planetary crisis.   I spoke on behalf of African civil society and  underscored the fact that Africa was a crime scene and it would be unacceptable for politicians meeting in Africa would agree on a deal that would cook the continent.

The COP president assured the marchers that she will ensure that talks are transparent and inclusive and that the voices of the people would be heard. That promise however, did not align with information emanating from the meeting halls as well as ongoing private consultations.

Since the second week of the talks began, ministers of environment are arriving and the politics of climate change get thicker. Indications are that developed nations are still unwilling to commit to anything that requires compliance in terms of emissions reduction and will make sure that Durban’s outcome will practically be hollow and devoid of substance.  At the same time, the climate politicians are keen on spinning that outcome as progress in the right direction.

The substance of any truly progressive outcome would have to acknowledge the Kyoto Protocol, pledge to work on it and promise a binding agreement for another commitment period by say 2020.

Meanwhile, the inadequate system of voluntary and non-binding pledges cooked up at the two previous round of UN talks – Copenhagen and Cancún – is likely to take over.

Analysts believe that the pledges made by the developed polluting countries since the Cancún summit would place the world on the road to a 5ºC temperature rise above pre-industrial levels. If that happens, Africa will experience a temperature rise of between 7ºC and 8ºC.

Analysts have also shown that developing countries have made higher pledges than developed nations, those responsible for the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions historically and thus the most responsible for climate change.

However, developed nations in Durban insist that ‘growing economies’ – particularly Brazil, South Africa, India and China – are not doing enough.

The Unites States –the largest historical contributor of greenhouse gases – is one of the countries flying this kite while not making any real commitment to cut its emissions.

The alarm bells are already ringing on the continent of Africa and the Small Island States.  Experts believe that even a two degrees temperature rise Africa would face cataclysmic impacts in terms of water stress, desertification, droughts, floods, coastal erosion and major crop failures. With already visible impacts on the continent, Africa is becoming a climate crime scene.

Agreeing to a so-called Durban Mandate will negate years of negotiations, avoid reaching agreement on a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and will launch these negotiators into a new round of dithering and fiddling while the planet burns.

The Law of Ukraine “On the management of spent nuclear fuel” was adopted by Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy in the first hearing.

Pavlo Khazan

Pavlo Khazan, vice chair of the Green Party of Ukraine, commenting of new plans of Ukrainian government said: “The Green Party of Ukraine is strongly against the construction of nuclear storage in Kyiv region and considers unacceptable the fact that all required accompanying notes to the law are missing. We sure that functioning of the nuclear waste repository won’t improve the radiological situation in the exclusion zone of Chernobyl NPP. Any activity, if it doesn’t ensure the regime of radiation safety, is prohibited in this zone. Moreover construction of storage needs the demolition of 8.6 hectares of pines in the exclusion zone. All health experts show, that the rate of leukemia and cancer among people, who live near the nuclear objects, are 3 times higher, than on the other territories. Scientists predict that in one year cancer will be the main death cause through the whole world. According to the official data annually almost 165 thousand cases of cancer are registered in Ukraine. Doctors predict that by 2020 the number of cases annually will increase to 200 thousand.”

Green politician warning that the question of nuclear waste handling is incredible important. Now it is solved hidden, without a public discussion organized and obligatory state ecological expertise, without proper technical conclusions and analysis of possible consequences. Also there is no information about feasibility study, state expertise conclusions and report on repository’s impact on the neighbouring countries.

“I would like to remind to MPs, President and Prime-minister that we always have been protesting the usage of the nuclear power all over the world. We already protested in 2009 and 2010 against the bill 5050 which was scheduled for 17 December 2010. We have sent 450 letter to deputies, we organised direct actions at the Parliament. I would like to remind to Ukrainian governmental top-managers that Ukrainians suffered a lot after the Chernobyl disaster. According to our figures, about 900 000 people died from the explosion and the disaster affected more than 5 million people. We stress on the need to provide energy needs through sustainable energy usage and energy saving. Building of new nuclear power facilities should be stopped. Energy supply should be based on alternative, environmentally friendly and non-nuclear plants. Construction of spent nuclear fuel storage will have complicated social and economic, environmental consequences and will not solve the problem. Moreover the cost will be only doubled. In 50 years period the contents of spent fuel assembly in these containers might be re-disposed, their reprocessing is very expensive and dangerous. We are strongly against the construction of this nuclear storage and will fight against as we can. Don’t allow build nuclear burial ground in Ukraine!”, – said Pavlo Khazan.

Rebecca Harms

Commenting on the ruling against former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko,Greens/EFA  co-president Rebecca Harms and Green MEP Werner Schulz said:

Werner Schulz

“This politically-motivated ruling is a backwards step for the rule of law in the Ukraine and a blow to EU-Ukraine rapprochement. Nobody should be under any illusions that this court case was designed to scupper the prospects of the political opposition in the Ukraine ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections. Even if the ruling is subsequently overturned, this episode has damaged the credibility of the Ukrainian government.

While the Greens are in favour of concluding an EU-Ukraine association agreement, guaranteeing the rule of law and making democratic progress is

a recondition for this. Today’s ruling is clearly a blow to this end.”

Pavlo Khazan

Pavlo Khazan, vice chair of the Green Party of Ukraine commenting of the courts decision said:

“The courts decision was made despite the enormous pressure by European politicians put on Ukrainian government, parliament and the president. It was clear that a prison sentence for former prime-minister would give them big troubles to Ukraine’s aspirations to get closer to the EU, in particular to sign a free-trade and association agreement with the EU later this year.

Unfortunately we see that the Ukrainian president, government and the Parliament are ruled by the Party of Regions with the majority in legislative and executive bodies and courts. They cannot give guarantee to Ukrainians of defence their constitutional rights. That is why the state politics depends on personal ambitions of Ukrainian oligarchs and politicians more and more and becomes no longer constitutional.”