Bairbre de Brún, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group. – (GA) Madam President, before the negotiations in Durban, the EU must indicate that we will be committed to the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. It must be a strong second commitment, both in its aims and its legal version.

It is clear that the aim is an ambitious global resolution. The EU can help achieve that and can display leadership without regard for the stance of other people. In Durban, we must close the gigatonne gap between current levels of ambition and the levels that are necessary according to science. It will also be crucially important that there is climate funding in developing countries.

In addition to combating the big political issue surrounding the framework on the way forward, the negotiations in Durban must taken certain steps to implement the Cancún agreements. As regards the issue of funding, the summit in Durban must provide a path for the scaling up of climate funding for the period 2013-2020 and provide appropriate long-term funding to support a low carbon future for developing countries so that they do not go down the same dirty path of development. Also, it must help developing countries deal with the damage that has already been caused.