Multilateralism and the UN: the Ghost of Copenhagen

Normally, today would be considered the one day during the two week period of negotiations where no formal business is conducted.  Normally, this would be an intermission where all parties involved would gather their collective breath for the final push expected to come next week for an agreement - whatever that agreement will look like.  So it was unusual and unexpected to wake up this morning and find a formal COP plenary scheduled for 11am. 

Repeating one of the themes of the discussions yesterday, one of the main issues the President of the negotiations addressed was the fact that there are to be no secret negotiations taking place in private that would bypass all the current discussions being held.  As she stated for at least the fourth time in 24 hours, "there is no hidden text and no secret negotiations".  The representative of the G77 (a group of developing countries) indicated that they will support the President in this process of negotiation as long as "there are no shadow ministerial process" taking place. 

Making tracks

Talks continue to sputter along here with (officially) one day left to go. I have heard from a number of sources that the expectation is that it will continue into Saturday even though it was only scheduled to last until Friday. Morale is pretty low among the delegates I have seen. The train ride home to Sweden last night (where many of the NGO delegates are staying) was full of downcast people from all over the world silently looking down at their feet throughout the 30 minutes it take to commute to Malmo. Getting kicked out of the Bella Center and negotiations, talks breaking down and the protests inside and out seems to be taking its toll.

There was little substantive news today. Things seem to be back on track and people are talking once more but there is little indication as to whether they will be successful. It is hard to really get a good gauge on where things are breaking down, there are so many fault lines between groups of countries it could be any number of issues, some of which we have talked about before. One of the things that seems to be a particular focal point as things come down to the wire is what people sometimes refer to tangentially as the "one-track solution" or "two-track solution".