Karlstad, 26 April 2010
Formal and informal texts- a comparison.
Brussels, 18 February 2010
Letter of José Manuel BARROSO President of the European Commission
to EU Heads of State and Government on climate action
"Working together to maintain our ambitions on climate change will remain one of our most important challenges for this year. Since we did not have time to discuss this at our meeting last week I would like to share some thoughts on the work going on in the Commission as I believe we should prepare well the important decisions ahead of us.
In fact if the European Union does not take the initiative we may end up driven by the initiatives of others.
Most of us were in Copenhagen, and I think none of us were satisfied with the outcome. However, Copenhagen was a reality check. We had hoped that leading by example, and our commitment to step up our efforts to 30%, would be enough to bring others on board. This did not happen. But this is not the time for the EU to start doubting its commitments. This would be a mistake.
We need to show that we have not given up on our ambitions, even if many of our partners found it easier to limit themselves to the lowest common denominator. We should rather show our commitment to press ahead with delivery – implementing our climate and energy package showing how tackling climate change is a dynamic element in a strategy for growth by creating jobs and boosting energy security under the Europe 2020 approach that I presented and we discussed last week.
Besides the internal dimension of our work, the international front is as important as ever to tackling the threat of climate change. We need the international process to continue, building on what we could agree in the Copenhagen Accord and finding new ways to instil trust back into the process.
An important element in this strategy should be the implementation of the fast start financing we have committed to last December. We should not forget that those who were working more closely with us in Copenhagen were the developing countries, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable.But our core goal must be to bring all partners closer to our own ambitions and to our commitment to a multilateral agreement. Copenhagen showed us just how tough it will be. Hence if we are to progress, we have to rethink our approach to these partners.
I have therefore asked Connie Hedegaard, the Commissioner for Climate Action, to undertake a consultation of key international partners to find ways to reinvigorate the international process. I would hope to have some first thoughts by the Spring European Council, and then to feed the results in full into the Ministerial level negotiations announced by Chancellor Merkel and the June European Council. I would of course hope that this process can also benefit from your own reflections on the direction of partners' thinking.
The work we are already doing to tackle climate change can act as a powerful lever for others to follow – but it must be seen as a genuinely collective approach. I will be discussing with Herman Van Rompuy the best way to address these elements in March as well as how we can ensure a powerful and unified EU voice on these critical issues for the future."
Charity-
Hey there baby girl. I miss you so much. Every day and every night I think of you. There is so much I want to tell you and to share with you. Nothing's the same without you here. You're always with me in my heart. I'm thinking about your mom, too. I haven't got out to see her yet, and for that I'm sorry. I just don't think I'm ready yet. I'll try soon. We drove up to Detroit Lakes and all I could think about was when me and you went. At least we had a lot of good, fun memories. They will never leave my mind. You were and still are a dear, best friend to me. There is not one day that goes by that you don't come up in our minds and conversation. Melissa and I are always bringing up the times we had with you. I feel like I'm writing you one of those silly notes that we used to write in 9th grade. There is still a box of Chicken in A Biscuit crackers that you brought down to my room in there. They're never going out now. In my mind you're up in Minot with your dad. I feel like I don't need to write everything because I'm going to talk to you. I do know that I can still talk to you and you will listen. I know you won't respond but you'll listen, like you always did. I love you and miss you so very much, Cherrybomb.
Love you always.
Lindsay
P.S. Oni wan kanoby, you're my only hope!
Formal texts contains much more varied vocabulary´s and the language is more "formal". There are much more verbs in a formal text and different words are used to express same things in order to avoid repetitions. When reading an informal text I feel relaxed and almost every word is familiar, when I´m reading formal texts I ´m using the dictionary a lot and have the feeling of distance. I think I´m somewhere in between these two ways of writing when I´m writing myself and realize that I have to be more aware of the differences between a formal and an informal text in my own writing.
