On Wednesday morning, a long line of heads of state and government from around the world were preparing to argue their case at the climate change conference in Copenhagen. In the large plenary hall, the leaders will today speak ahead of the high-level negotiations that open on Thursday. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso will arrive during the afternoon.

Meanwhile, difficult negotiations continue among the environment ministers and senior officials to achieve a breakthrough at the UN Climate Change Conference. The key questions remain – how will the money for climate change adaptation in developing countries be distributed? How will carbon dioxide emissions be reduced, and how will this burden be shared out between countries? During Tuesday night, the chief negotiators debated the proposal that is now on the table, one which, in the view of the USA and the EU, among others, does not involve sufficiently high commitments from developing countries. The negotiations went on until 6.00 a.m.

Sweden’s Minister for the Environment Andreas Carlgren presents the EU’s positions in the plenary meeting at lunchtime. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Venezualan President Hugo Chávez will also speak. Later in the day, between 15.00 and 20.00 Danish time, Commission President José Manuel Barroso and 28 heads of state and government will speak, including the United Kingdom’s Gordon Brown, Finland’s Tarja Halonen and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.

In the afternoon Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, together with Commission President José Manuel Barroso, will meet Ethiopian Prime Minister and representative for the African Union Meles Zenawari and other African heads of state and government. The meeting is a way for the EU’s leaders to meet Africa’s leaders to discuss the possibility of reaching a global climate agreement.

A press briefing with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and José Manuel Barroso is planned for 17.00. The press briefing can be followed here on se2009.eu. Follow the webcasts from the plenary meeting at webcast.cop15.dk.