French press review 17 November 2009

by Amanda Morrow

Article published on the 2009-11-17 Latest update 2009-11-17 07:48 TU

With climate talks in Copenhagen looming next month, Le Monde is this morning going strong on all things green. “Can we still save the summit?” screams the front page, before directing us to an inside assortment of dedicated environmental coverage.

There’s everything from blue-fin tuna quotas and deforestation, to a follow-up on the Singapore Apec meeting, and political posturing ahead of the next month’s UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen.

US President Barack Obama is in China for trade talks with Hu Jintao, and with the leaders of the world’s number-one and -three economies looking to iron out problems in their relationship, it seems France wants to keep some creases.

It’s joined forces with Brazil in adopting a common position for next month’s climate talks that suggest the creation of a kind of World Environmental Organisation. 

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have unveiled what they call a "climate bible", which they plan to take to the Danish capital.

Le Monde says Sarkozy wants to take the wind from the sails of the US and China by forging an alliance among industrialised countries, important emergent countries and those touched most by global warming. Sarkozy says they are making the text public because Brazil and France want Copenhagen to be a success, not a cut-price agreement.

Driving forth their argument, Lula has criticised what he terms a “G2 of special interests”. He warns that Obama and Hu should not reach an agreement based only on the economic realities of their two countries, adding he plans to phone Obama about this ahead of today's meeting with Hu.

Meanwhile environment ministers from 44 countries are already in Denmark to revive climate negotiations ahead of the official summit. Right wing Le Figaro says they’re tasked with sorting through the negotiations muddle of the last few months to lay the ground for the summit next month.

The paper spoke to someone of the French camp who says no one has any idea which direction the negotiations will take.

The ministers' meeting comes amid deep discord over whether a binding climate change treaty can be reached to replace Kyoto. French Environment Minister Jean Louis Borloo says the US is the biggest obstacle, as it has yet to pass a law capping greenhouse gas emissions, making it difficult for Obama to act.

And in its international pages, Le Figaro turns its attentions to Clotilde Reiss, the French academic accused of spying in Iran following the country's disputed June elections.

Her case is due to begin again in front of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran today, and the paper wonders whether the 24-year-old will attend. She was bailed out in August from Tehran's notorious Evin prison and is staying at the French embassy.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has said Reiss would not turn up in court unless she received assurances that she could stay in the embassy pending a verdict.

Le Figaro wonders if current nuclear tensions between Iran and the west will have any impact on her chances of receiving a pardon.