The leaders of the European Union chose ecology as the main topic at a two-day summit that opened today in Brussels. The participants in the talks will consider a report by the European Commission on the geopolitical and political-economic risks posed by global warming. The authors of the document believe that global warming threatens the world with new territorial conflicts, primarily in the Arctic. Many mineral deposits will become accessible there, and the struggle for them has already begun. As an example, they cite the dispute between Russia and Norway, which is a member of NATO but not of the EU. The European Union must be prepared for new such conflicts and the growth of "climate" migration.

On the eve of the summit, some European media outlets suggested that Poland could already lift its veto on the start of negotiations between Russia and the EU on concluding a new comprehensive agreement to replace the one that expired in 2007. On March 7, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in an interview with Reuters that he “does not see any major problems with regard to the EU and Poland developing a negotiating mandate.”

But a source in the Polish prime minister's office told Vedomosti that such a statement is not planned. Despite the de facto lifting of the embargo on Polish meat supplies to Russia, disagreements remain due to Moscow's reluctance to ratify the Energy Charter. It is unknown whether the veto will be lifted even by the June Russia-EU summit.

Europe is more concerned with domestic issues. The summit is marred by a corruption scandal in the European Parliament: some members hired their family members as assistants and even transferred money to non-existent recruitment firms. According to the internal audit service, this cost European taxpayers 100 million euros in 2004-2005 alone.

One of the hot topics of the meeting will be the discussion of a simplified version of the European Constitution – the Lisbon Treaty, which comes into force in 2009. Of the 27 EU countries, only Ireland must, in accordance with its legislation, adopt the basic law of the European Union in a referendum. The Irish Times writes that the government is allocating additional funds to promote the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, but it is possible that the document will fail in the referendum in June.

There will be other hot topics: Kosovo, NATO expansion, lists Alexander Rahr from the German Council on Foreign Relations, but the main issue will be the discussion of the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol – this is an unproblematic consensus topic.

The European Union has no time for Russia