European Union

as a regional economic integration organisation, the European Union can be and is a Party to the Convention. However it does not have a separate vote from its members. Under the CBD process, the 15 members (1995) of the European Union meet in private to agree on common positions for the negotiations. The country that holds the EU Presidency -a position that rotates every six months- then speaks for the group as a whole. Individual member states are allowed to make statements emphasising their specific points of view and priorities as long as they are not contradictory with the EU common position.