Dispatch 2 from UNEP's Ban Plastics Conference
More insights from the Firebreak's Man Inside the UNEP Plastic Pollution INC 5.2 Negotiations in Geneva
Part 2 continues to cover the Geneva UN circus from Monday evening. The Firebreak’s Man Inside the UNEP Ban Plastics Conference took several deep breaths to make it through the organizational chaos and European Commission silliness. After another week of “high-level” nonsense, the big question should be: Who will be able to make it to Thursday?
More scheduling chaos: Observers were turned down politely from the Contact Group rooms and sent to overflow rooms where we could watch the meetings on the screen, and see that there were actually seats available. There have been a lot of informal meetings today, even informals of the informals. There was also delays in scheduling some of the Contact Groups that have been moved back to late in the evening.
Qualified European Commission Delegates?
The most striking event of today was the intervention of Cristina de Avila, European Commission Head of Unit for Global Environmental Cooperation & Multilateralism (DG Environment). The EU keeps pushing for Article 6 - on capping polymer production. This is a measure that nobody else actually wants.
On Monday evening the abovementioned European Union delegate had a “burst of ego” during the Contact Group meeting, and in poor, broken English called the co-chair, Maria Angélica Ikeda (Brazil), a “complete ignorant”. The co-chair reacted politely, told Ms de Avila that she does not appreciate being called a “complete ignorant” and reminded her that there is a code of conduct that everybody is expected to abide by. Cristina was furious and later asked again for the floor, just to express again, in poor English, how stubborn she was.
It makes you wonder how the EU 27 Member States let someone like Ms de Avila represent them. The way the Commission grabbed power to " represent" all Member States in international events is incredible, especially when people like Ms de Avila are out of touch with the realities in each Member State. Isn’t it time for the European Member States to claim their rightful place at the negotiation table? With representatives like Ms de Avila here in Geneva, the European Commission should have no serious role in these negotiations.
No Schedule, No Transparency, Empty Chairs
On Monday evening, the schedule for the next day, 12 August, is still not defined and it seems the negotiations taking place in the "informal meetings" are actually very non-transparent.
Rumor has it that many ministers who had announced their presence for tomorrow, might not come, even though they appear on the UNEP list.
The same for many industry representatives. In reality there are significantly fewer people that appear on the lists, and given the length of the INC5.2 and the expensive Swiss location, some decided not to come anymore.
Editor’s comment: I wonder what happened to all of those registered NGO delegates from Ghana, Uganda, Pakistan and Nigeria who had absolutely zero connection to plastics policy.