Climate talks in Copenhagen next month should fix a legally binding agreement that takes effect in 2010, and preferably in the first half of the year, Reuters cited German Chancellor Angela Merkel as saying today. Merkel said she would meet the leaders of France, Denmark and Sweden, which holds the rotating European Union presidency, ahead of an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday to prepare for the Dec. 7-18 Copenhagen talks. "Europe -- and Europe is leading the way here and acting unanimously -- must not relent. Copenhagen must be a success," Merkel told a news conference after a cabinet meeting in Meseberg, north of Berlin. She said making a success of the Copenhagen talks meant "that in the course of next year -- and I say better in the first half than the second half -- we reach a legally binding agreement that has the quality to succeed the Kyoto agreement".
