COP31: European countries, increasingly isolated, navigate difficult climate negotiations

Speech by COP31 president, Murat Kurum, at the opening ceremony of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Turkey, on November 9, 2026. MURAD SEZER/REUTERS "The European Union must abandon its naïveté and completely rethink its negotiation strategy." In her assessment of the last global climate conference (COP30), held in Belem, Brazil, at the end of 2025, France's environment minister, Monique Barbut, did not mince her words.

Will she be more satisfied at the end of the 31 st edition, which began on Monday, November 9, in Antalya, Turkey? While President Emmanuel Macron will not be present for the leaders' summit on Wednesday, November 11 and Thursday, November 12, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to present Europe's priorities. After Belem, Barbut described Europeans as "very poorly organized," arriving "with a naïve mindset," "abandoned" by their allies and only securing an agreement "empty of meaning," during a hearing at the Sénat in June.

"Hostile forces were able to break free, especially among the major emerging countries and oil-producing countries," she added. Other European leaders would likely not paint such a stark picture. France, and more broadly the EU, have repeatedly expressed frustration toward COP processes. In recent years, these have produced "disappointing" results, as Wopke Hoekstra, the European commissioner for climate, stated in early June. This dissatisfaction reflects their complicated positioning in these negotiating arenas, which the United States has largely abandoned and are highly polarized between developed and developing countries.

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