PARIS, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The former French environment minister said members of the European Union were giving up their sovereign rights on environmental issues, leaked cables suggest.
World delegates recently met in Mexico to work on drafting a comprehensive agreement on climate change issues at a U.N. conference. Leaders at last year's conference in Denmark produced little in terms of concrete agreements.
Former French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo during February talks with U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Rivkin said national commitments should come before comprehensive climate treaties, the EUobserver reports.
He complained that European member states were overly concerned with treaty mechanisms and were handing state control over to the European government in Brussels, the report adds.
Borloo, the cables from the Internet watchdog group WikiLeaks reveal, said he didn't think the United Nations would be able to close a deal on climate issues any time soon. During the February meeting, the former French minister said he didn't think emerging countries were ready for an international treaty either.
Borloo served as environment minister under French President Nicolas Sarkozy until a Cabinet reshuffle in November.
