*An interesting publication, but rather more interesting this week because there's actually a whole lot of politics in Europe at the moment.
*The original version, which arrives by email, has a host of embedded links in it. I'm way too lazy to work that hard, so if you're keen on learning why Belgium may or may not be a "failed state," I would advice subscribing.
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By Ryan Heath | Tips to rheath@politico.eu | To read on your desktop click here
Playbook comes to you today from Paris — more specifically from a tiny attic apartment that manages to be both hazardous (I’m bigger than the door) and impossibly chic. In other words, Paris is being Paris again.
And with COP21, the world’s largest green gathering, underway since Sunday night, France is also being France: chest out, eyes up and determined to deliver the world’s first new legally binding climate deal in 18 years.
THE ULTIMATE COP21 POLITICAL EXPLAINER: POLITICO’s Sara Stefanini and Kalina Oroschakoff have got you covered on the what: http://politi.co/1MYswYI and the who’s who: http://politi.co/1HyyJ0J
SPECIAL COP21 COVERAGE: POLITICO | Guardian | In French, try Le Monde or Le Figaro
WHY ARE WE SUPPOSED TO CARE? 147 world leaders are turning up today to give three-minute speeches (here’s the running order) that will individually mean little, but collective push negotiators to “probably the most ambitious international co-operative ideal ever proposed,” to quote the BBC. Oren Cass isn’t buying that: He calls likely changes to be agreed at the conference “meaningless.” President Obama insists that this conference can’t end in failure, as the last major climate conference in 2009 did: “What makes this gathering different is that more than 180 nations have already submitted plans to reduce the harmful emissions that help cause climate change.” http://politi.co/1RfwVvG
PHOTOS — WHAT’S IT LIKE ON THE GROUND? Paris is looking great and patriotic, and the conference is well-run. On arrival at the huge Gare du Nord, there are billboards everywhere that you can’t miss unless you’re a bored Parisian. At the conference venue north of Paris you can take mini electric buses, after you’ve toured the flag sculpture garden (EU gets prime spot), to get around the interconnected halls. These halls are filled with meeting spaces and a kind of World Expo for environmentalists made of up national pavilions, hanging gardens, huge plastic animals (Ségolène Royal is taking personal credit for them) and thousands of Very. Serious. People. They are so serious they also need both a relaxation room and meditation room, possibly because they’ve also spent the day sitting on these cardboard chairs from the Netherlands, and eating “Asian soup” from the canteen.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR TODAY:
- A big technology transfer agreement between the United States and India.
- Discussions about how sticky is the sticking point of climate finance. It’s not so easy to separate the developing and developed economies of 2015 — so who will foot the bill for adapting energy policies and putting other mitigation strategies in place?
- Juncker and Cañete lead the EU charge in bilaterals with: Rousseff, Hollande, Ban Ki-moon, Trudeau, King Abdullah of Jordan, Cameron, Merkel, Poroshenko and new Polish PM Beata Szydło.
WAYS TO KNOW IF YOU’RE A COP21 INSIDER:
1. You refer to MAC when discussing the European Commission schedule — that’s short for Miguel Arias Cañete, the European climate action and energy commissioner.
2. Your can-can references have nothing to do with the Moulin Rouge (though you do support windmills), and instead are merely opinions about the Climate Action Network.
3. You are excited about using a bag that was previously a sweater: http://bit.ly/1Nhp5vm
COP21 BY THE NUMBERS: http://politi.co/1Rfr8Gn
Global statistics: AP explains how the world is now a “wilder, warmer” place.
40,000 participants are on site, making this the biggest environmental summit yet.
570,000 people have marched in events in 175 countries in support of a global climate deal.
10,000: including Pope Francis and UN chief Ban Ki-moon donated their shoes to an installation at Paris’ Place de la République, in place of the march that was intended before the recent attacks led to its cancelation.
174: the number of violent protestors taken into custody by French police, after an unauthorized march.
€79.5 million: the cost of free public transport for conference participants
PLAYBOOK LUNCH WITH COMMISSIONER MOEDAS — YOU’RE INVITED: European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas, presented by Huawei, is happening Tuesday, December 8, at the Residence Palace in Brussels. Doors open 11:30, the interview starts at 12. With a background in engineering and banking before politics, Moedas brings energy and insight to his shakeup of how the EU spends €70 billion in research funds. RSVP today to reserve your seat: http://bit.ly/1kVizEI
**A message from Google: Google is a growth engine for European app entrepreneurs, and we’re sharing a number of examples with you this week, starting in France. Olivier Jeannel has 80 percent hearing loss, but he wanted to use his phone for the same thing everyone does — making calls. Using Android, he created RogerVoice, which combines voice recognition and text captions to make smartphones truly accessible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcU7VEs1hiE** (((
