The eurozone is burning - EU grandees busy doling out money in the Pacific

The eurozone is burning, economic growth has stopped, unemployment has reached catastrophic levels in Spain and several other member countries .....


However, there is one pillar of stability amidst the turmoil: The European Union is "committed to consolidate its position" (read: dish out even more of European taxpayers´money) as a "reliable and substantial development and climate change partner in the Pacific". No matter how empty the coffers at home are, the EU grandees are always delighted to fly first class to some exotic Pacific island in order to bring yet another announcement of new new aid millions to the natives: 

Tomorrow, European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, will attend in Auckland the EU-Pacific Islands Forum Ministerial Meeting, along with Christian Friis Bach, Minister of Development Cooperation of Denmark, who represents the High Representative/Vice-President of the Commission Catherine Ashton. A wide range of issues affecting the region will be discussed, such as climate change, sustainable development, economic stability, growth and trade, and development cooperation. The positions ahead of the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on sustainable development of 20-22 June will also constitute a part of the debate and focus on how the EU and the Pacific could reach a substantial outcome in Rio+20 especially around the adoption of concrete goals and targets supporting the transition to an inclusive green economy.

Ahead of the Ministerial meeting, Danish Minister for Development Cooperation Christian Friis Bach, said: ''Our presence here demonstrates the EU's expanding interest and continuous engagement in the Pacific, as a foreign policy priority for the EU. Our cooperation has worked well both in political and financial terms, but we can still do more. In the future, we expect that our partnership will continue to grow and intensify. The EU is committed to consolidate its position as a reliable and substantial development and climate change partner in the Pacific''.

"The European Union is a global player and respects its global commitments. The Pacific Islands are the first to suffer the impact of climate change, which is why the EU decided to take the lead in rallying substantial international community support for the Pacific's climate change adaptation efforts. The ministerial meeting gives us yet another opportunity to strengthen our partnership and take forward our shared positions to international stage. Rio+20 conference will give us an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to sustainable development and green economy."

At the core of EU-Pacific partnership is cooperation on climate change; the single greatest threat to the region. Since the EU and the Pacific Islands Forum adopted the Joint Declaration on Climate Change in November 2008, EU-Pacific cooperation on climate change has increased substantially, both politically and financially.

The EU and its Member States are the largest donor worldwide and the second in the region, after Australia.

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On top of resources for development and climate change initially allocated to the Pacific ACP countries for the period 2008-2013, the EU has made available a financial package of €110 million in additional climate change related resources committed by the Commission since 2008.

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EU´s new climate "allies" think that it is paytime

Last year in Durban, the European Union - "the global climate change leader" - openly boastad about its alliance with a group of small island states and Least Developed Countries (LDCs). 


However, the new "allies" are now showing increasing signs of restlessness. Now, when paytime is getting closer - and the EU is in the middle of a financial crissis - the  Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis) is wondering whether the "global leader" intends to stick by its costly promises. 

UN climate talks open in Germany on Monday, with the EU struggling to keep its position of a global leader.

Small developing countries that linked up with the EU in a new coalition last year say the bloc must commit to tougher emission cuts and more finance.

Existing pledges on "climate aid" run out at the end of this year, and the EU has yet to clarify what happens then.

Fortunately, the EU´s überwarmist Connie Hedegaard does not have a key to the EU´s - now more or less empty - money coffer:

Meanwhile, the Ecofin group of EU finance ministers is also meeting this week to discuss financial contributions for developing countries.

The EU has pledged - and according to its own analysis, largely committed - 7.2bn euros ($9.3bn) over the period 2010-12 as its share of the "fast-start finance" package agreed at the UN summit in Copenhagen in 2009.

The expectation had been that the developed world, including the EU, would begin to ramp up contributions from public and private sources in order to meet the long-term target, also agreed at Copenhagen, of providing $100bn per year by 2020.

However, a leaked draft of the Ecofin agreement seen by BBC News shows that EU ministers have not agreed what they will provide in the way of finance after 2012, nor how they will provide it.

The draft talks in terms of developed nations "needing to identify" a pathway to the $100bn target. Some money could be raised through the recently introduced charge on aviation emissions, but this is not certain.

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The representatives of the small - often corrupt - island states should understand that the "promises" made in Durban were not intended to be kept. What they can hope for - at best - is that the keepers of the EU purse will find some way of "identifying" existing aid resources, which then can be renamed as "new" funding.