With only a few days left until this year's major climate meeting in Belém, Brazil, EU countries have still not been able to present how much they intend to reduce their emissions by both 2035 and 2040.
At the last minute, a second extraordinary meeting of environment ministers is being held to hammer out some form of agreement.
It takes 27 to dance the tango, says Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra on his way into the meeting.
His starting point is that the EU should have reduced its emissions by 90 percent by 2040 compared to the level in 1990.
Requires flexibility
However, countries such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic believe that 90 percent is far too much. Other reluctant countries, such as Italy and France, in turn demand greater flexibility to include climate initiatives made outside Europe.
Sweden's Minister of Climate and Environment Romina Pourmokhtari (L) hopes to hold out on both sides.
"It's important not to focus on one thing and let go of the other, but to keep two balls in the air today and ensure that we maintain as high a level of ambition as possible," she says on her way into the meeting.
"Disaster"
Agreeing on the 2040 target is step one. Step two will also be to establish the EU's next so-called NDC – national climate plan – on emissions by 2035, which will be presented at the COP30 meeting.
So far, EU countries have only agreed that it should be in the range between 66.25 percent and 72.5 percent compared to 1990.
The worst disaster would be not to bring an NDC to Belém, warns French Environment Minister Monique Barbut.
Watered down?
There is already harsh criticism from environmental organizations that the EU has watered down its ambitions.
The Danish presidency is not worried that the EU will have to go to COP30 with a pillow of shame.
Our level of ambition is at least as high as the rest of the world, says Minister of Climate and Energy Lars Aagaard, who is leading the negotiations in Brussels.
For Pourmokhtari, it is also about meeting criticism from President Donald Trump in the US that the EU's measures are not helping growth.
We must show that it is not true, says Pourmokhtari in Brussels.
