Many of the world’s news agencies and top leaders blame Lars Løkke Rasmussen for summit failure

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has been hung out to dry by the world’s media after the disappointing results of the COP15 climate summit.

Several world leaders have also indirectly criticised Rasmussen for his poor leadership during the conference, where he took over the reins from originally appointed COP15 President Connie Hedegaard on 16 December.

Swiss newspaper TagesAnzeiger printed a large article on Sunday about Rasmussen’s ineptitude at the conference entitled ‘Der Stümper von Kopenhagen’ (‘The Clutz from Copenhagen’).

‘As host of the climate summit he bungled practically everything,’ the article asserts.
Switzerland's environment minister also criticized Denmark in the article.

The Financial Times has likewise aimed a few barbs at the Danish leader: ‘Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s prime minister, replaced Ms Hedegaard as conference president towards the end in a bid to break the deadlock. But, by many accounts, the process then got worse.’

The newspaper went on to say that although US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would not directly criticise Rasmussen personally, she said it was ‘unfortunate that there have been problems with the process’.

Germany’s largest newspaper, Bild, billed the summit ‘Floppenhagen’. News bureau AFP accused Rasmussen of speaking nonsense, and German magazine Tagesspiegel tells how British environment minister Ed Miliband had to force a painfully unprepared Rasmussen off the speaker’s podium.

‘It was completely amateurish,’ John Nordbo, head of Denmark’s branch of the WWF, said of Rasmussen’s performance to BT newspaper.

‘It will be many years before there will be held a summit of any kind in Denmark again. The UN will certainly go out of its way to avoid the country after this debacle,’ he said.

Although Rasmussen himself admitted the result could have been better, he added he was ‘very satisfied’ with the conference.