Bonn (Germany), Nov 15 (EFE). - The fight against climate change involves technological and financial changes, in which Europe does not want to be left behind, as shown by the exhibition of strength shown today at the climate summit (COP23) by the European Commission, and the heads of government of Germany and France.

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron inaugurated this afternoon the high-level segment of COP23, called to develop the rules for the operation of the Paris Agreement, with appeals to raise the ambition of the pact so that it achieves its goal of keeping the planet below two degrees.

Meanwhile, the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Miguel Arias Cañete, reinforced his partnership with China and Canada to "do what we did in a very active and coordinated way in the past with our American friends, promote climate action," he told Efe.

In recent years, former US President Barack Obama and, especially his Secretary of State John Kerry, had taken the reins of the climate negotiations in order to fulfill one of his electoral promises: to reach an international agreement against the warming, forging for it important bilateral agreements with China or India, among others.

Although the EU He pressed as much or more than the Obama Administration to achieve the Paris Agreement - they came together to create the Coalition for High Ambition with this goal - the different rhythms to which They wanted to advance their member countries, and, especially, how little Poland was doing, they weakened the diplomatic force in Brussels, according to experts consulted by Efe.

COP23, taking advantage of "that the Federal Government of the United States is on vacation in the fight against climate change" -said Arias Cañete-, the EU tries to take the reins of "the the most important multilateral negotiations that take place in these times ", in the words of the head of climate change of the UN, Patricia Espinosa.

One month before COP23, the Commission held a meeting in Montreal with China and Canada - to which they invited more than a hundred countries that are in favor of implementing the Paris Agreement - to agree on a joint position before this summit.

However, fearful for the climate financing that the United States will stop providing (only the Green Climate Fund will run out of 2,000 million euros. dollars), developing countries, including China, have blocked the negotiation in Bonn, where rich countries wanted to agree on the transparency mechanism of the Paris Agreement.

Su argument: they want to make sure that the rich countries do their homework in mitigation and in climate finance before 2020, that the Paris Agreement starts to be accounted for (which first time includes obligations for developing countries), before negotiating how they should do theirs.

To prevent those who want as allies from becoming enemies, the European Commissioner has temporarily settled the dispute by committing to the EU to promote that this theme, "Pre-2020 Ambition", have a high-level session at the next two summits of the climate.

And tomorrow, too, it convened an urgent ministerial meeting at COP23 to put Poland on the ropes, the only EU country that has not ratified its commitments. mitigation and financing for 2020 (Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol).

The EU should also be there to contribute to the intergovernmental panel of experts on climate change (IPCC, by its acronym in English) the funds (about two million dollars) that the United States has withdrawn, said French President Emmanuel Macron at the Plenary.

Macron said that the EU has not must not even negotiate "with countries less ambitious than us in the fight against climate change," in clear reference to US President Donald Trump, whom he has not invited to the summit on climate finance that it organizes in December.

He also claimed "border taxes on everything that comes from countries not committed to the transition. energy ".

Merkel, for its part, called for" seriousness "," trust "and" reliability "in the implementation of the Paris Agreement to combat climate change.

To demonstrate seriousness and leadership, Commissioner Arias Cañete advanced that the EU will reach the next climate summit with a regulatory package approved to comply with the Paris Agreement, and with more ambitious commitments in the field of renewables and energy efficiency.