Climate summit in Rio will be a flop

More than 100 heads of state and government will convene this Wednesday at the Rio+20 climate change summit. But owing to the absence of the politicians of major industrialised states the summit is doomed to failure, the left-liberal daily De Morgen suspects: "The Western powers are asking themselves how they can bring the spreading financial crisis under control. The emerging industrial states are above all focused on their growth, and the developing nations seem to have had enough of empty promises. Not Brazil but the G20 summit in Mexico dominates the international agenda. And in reality nothing has changed. … The more agreements were signed, the worse our planet has fared. That's the reality. … Global leaders like Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and David Cameron are sending just any old representative to Rio+20. [Belgian Prime Minister] Elio Di Rupo and [Flemish Minister-President] Kris Peeters are doing the same. However Prince Laurent [of Belgium] will travel to Rio to attend what threatens to be a climate flop. Nothing could better illustrate the unbearable meaninglessness of this summit."

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