Macron urges US and China to ‘step up’ on climate action

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday urged the United States, China and other non-European rich nations ahead of COP27 talks to pay their fair share to help poorer countries deal with climate change.

Published: 7 November 2022 09:48 CET

Macron urges US and China to 'step up' on climate action

France's President Emmanuel Macron in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, ahead of the COP27 climate summit. Photo by Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP

“We need the United States and China to step up” on emissions cuts and financial aid, Macron told French and African climate campaigners on the sidelines of the UN climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

“Europeans are paying,” he said. “We are the only ones paying.”

“Pressure must be put on rich non-European countries, telling them, ‘you have to pay your fair share’,” he said.

Stepping up financial aid to poorer countries that face the brunt of climate-induced disasters has emerged as a major issue at the 13-day climate conference that began on Sunday.

The heads of developing nations won a small victory when delegates agreed to put the controversial issue of money for “loss and damage” on the agenda.

Nearly 100 heads of state and government will speak at the summit on Monday and Tuesday, but China’s President Xi Jinping is not attending the conference and US President Joe Biden will come later this week following Tuesday’s US midterm elections.

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France has in recent weeks been shaken by a series of attacks on schoolchildren by their peers, in particularly the fatal beating earlier this month of Shemseddine, 15, outside Paris.

The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party has accused Attal of not doing enough on security as the anti-immigration party soars ahead of the government coalition in polls for the June 9th election.

Speaking in Viry-Chatillon, the town where Shemseddine was killed, Attal condemned the “addiction of some of our adolescents to violence”, calling for “a real surge of authority… to curb violence”.

“There are twice as many adolescents involved in assault cases, four times more in drug trafficking, and seven times more in armed robberies than in the general population,” he said.

Measures will include expanding compulsory school attendance to all the days of the week from 8am to 6pm for children of collège age (11 to 15).

“In the day the place to be is at school, to work and to learn,” said Attal, who was also marking 100 days in office since being appointed in January by President Emmanuel Macron to turn round the government’s fortunes.

Parents needed to take more responsibility, said Attal, warning that particularly disruptive children would have sanctions marked on their final grades.

OPINION: No, France is not suffering an unprecedented wave of violence

Promoting an old-fashioned back-to-basics approach to school authority, he said “You break something – you repair it. You make a mess – you clear it up. And if you disobey – we teach you respect.”

Attal also floated the possibility of children in exceptional cases being denied the right to special treatment on account of their minority in legal cases.

Thus 16-year-olds could be forced to immediately appear in court after violations “like adults”, he said. In France, the age of majority is 18, in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Macron and Attal face an uphill struggle to reverse the tide ahead of the European elections. Current polls point to the risk of a major debacle that would overshadow the rest of the president’s second mandate up to 2027.

A poll this week by Ifop-Fiducial showed the RN on 32.5 percent with the government coalition way behind on 18 percent.