Word: summiteer
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...carbon footprint from the signing rigmarole threatens to overshadow the E.U.'s own strong work in addressing climate change through emission caps. Indeed, the double summit comes just days after Al Gore was awarded his Nobel Prize for his his work on global warming, and at the same time as the high-level meeting on climate change in Bali...
...environmental extravagance because, after the signing, the leaders (many of whom only spent only a few hours in the city) will then hop on planes - with their huge entourages and other hangers-on like the media - to meet the next day in Brussels for their regular December E.U. summit...
...reason for this flying circus? Portugal, which currently holds the union's presidency, insisted that the treaty be signed on Portuguese soil and enter the history books as the Treaty of Lisbon. But under the E.U.'s Nice Treaty in 2000, all formal summits must take place in Brussels, home of the E.U.'s main institutions. So the leaders are obliged to meet in the Belgian capital for their scheduled summit, due to take place the day after the signing ceremony...
...officials failed to persuade either Portugal or Belgium to back down so that the hour-long signing ceremony and the summit could take place in a single city. It means E.U. leaders will thus consecrate the treaty revamp with cumbersome travel arrangements that seem to reinforce the impression of the E.U. as run by remote, unaccountable mandarins...
...Sarkozy said France would never give up the monthly sessions in the city. This is despite the growing number of complaints from the E.U.'s 785 Parliament members and 4,000 staff who decamp at the cost of 12 million euros for each session. But here, as with the summit, national prestige continues to hold the upper hand over cost and climate concerns...