Do not peel the European Onion in Durban.

The strength of the European Union in these negotiations is based on its ability to remain coherent and to speak of one voice. As the negotiations intensify in Durban, European leaders will need to put aside their narrow interests and work for the common good.

Regional and thematic negotiating blocks are key actors of the climate talks. From the Marry-Poppins-inspired “Umbrella Group” (most non-EU developed countries) to the politically charged ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas), their number has increased in the past years. Their main function is to strengthen the position of their members by gathering momentum around what constitutes for their members a lowest common denominator on one particular issue.

The way the EU operates in this forum goes well beyond this. It is indeed the only negotiating block that applies a strong discipline to its members so that only one position is expressed during the negotiations. In practice, this cohesion among EU countries means for instance that only one out of the 27 member states, the one currently occupying the rotating presidency (Poland for this COP), will intervene in plenary meetings on most issues, while the other 26 delegations remain quiet. The views of the other member states, including the most influential ones, are not expressed publicly in order not to undermine the coherence of the European message.

To work this way, the position of the European Union is the result of a long internal process. For all countries, and given the broad impact of climate policies, national positions are defined on the basis of arbitrages between various branches of government. On climate finance for instance, the environmental ministries of developed countries will often be more progressive than their financial counterparts. Consequently the national position of a given country is already the fruit of trade-offs and domestic negotiations. The position of the EU is based on an additional layer of decision-making which takes place before the COP in order to accommodate the interests of its 27 member states (hence the onion comparison). This year, the Council of the European Union (to which the heads of government of all member states take part) elaborated the EU position six weeks before the beginning of the COP (find here the EU position as adopted by the Council).

While this decision-making process requires time and energy before the conference, the discipline applied by the Union gives Europe a much more powerful voice in the talks than if its members states would each express their own national perspective. Without a credible and coherent EU common position, the European voices would most likely be lost in the ambient cacophony heard in the negotiating halls.

In 2009, the EU left itself being sidelined by other major countries, enabling the voices of those satisfied in the absence of legal commitments (most particularly US and China) to be the loudest.

If Europe wants to remain relevant in this process, all European delegations and governments will need to show in the coming week - as the political stakes raises - an unshakeable support for the common EU position.

Will the Europeans understand their common interest and work together to lead us towards a stronger framework for climate action, or will individual countries start peeling the European Onion in the coming days? We all know that the later strategy always comes with tears. Be confident, dear reader, that Adopt-a-negotiator team will work restlessly over the coming days to uncover any such attempt.