The Council of Europe has welcome President Obama’s decision to go to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

In a statement, John Prescott, the Council of Europe’s Rapporteur on Climate Change said:

“I’m absolutely delighted that the White House has confirmed that President Obama will go to Copenhagen.

“We at the Council of Europe have been calling for the leaders of the US, China and India to follow Gordon Brown’s lead by being there at the UN Climate Change Conference to ensure we get that binding political deal.

“On Monday in Paris, the Council of Europe – which represents 47 countries and 800 million people – passed a resolution asking all three leaders to attend. I repeated this call in the House of Commons during a climate change debate yesterday.

“And last week I impressed upon Premier Wen in a personal meeting in Beijing that China’s leadership must go to Copenhagen.

“Hopefully China and India will now follow Obama’s lead.

“From my experience negotiating for the EU at Kyoto, I know how important it is to have world leaders involved in any last minute settlement.”