BRUSSELS — France wants leaders to cast the deciding vote on the European Union’s next climate milestone, a demand that threatens to derail efforts to reach a speedy deal. 

The EU’s 27 environment ministers are currently scheduled to meet on Sept. 18 for a vote on the bloc’s 2040 emissions-cutting target, a date chosen to ensure that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen doesn’t show up empty-handed at the United Nations General Assembly’s climate summit the following week. 

But the French government is now pushing for the decision to be taken at the European Council rather than ministerial level, two EU diplomats told POLITICO. They were granted anonymity to disclose details of a closed-door meeting. 

Getting national leaders involved is a risky move, however.

While the target only needs a qualified majority to pass a ministerial vote, agreement at the level of leaders would require unanimity — meaning all EU countries, including skeptics such as Hungary and Poland, would need to back the goal. 

And with the European Council not due to meet until late October, waiting for the leaders’ verdict would delay agreement on the target.

This delay could in turn force the Commission and Denmark, which is currently steering talks among governments on the issue, to consider decoupling the 2040 target and the EU’s related 2035 goal, likely weakening the latter. 

That’s because the U.N. wants countries to deliver their 2035 goals, a requirement under the Paris climate accord, by the end of September. On Sept. 24 world leaders will gather on the sidelines of the General Assembly to present their emissions-cutting plans. 

The 2035 targets also form the centerpiece of November’s COP30 U.N. climate summit in Brazil. The conference marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement; France has often cast itself as the treaty’s custodian. 

With the United States withdrawing from international climate efforts under the Trump administration, many are looking to the EU to fill the leadership vacuum. Were von der Leyen to show up at the U.N. without a target, it “would be embarrassing,” another EU diplomat said.

Brussels and Denmark have so far insisted that the 2035 target must be derived from the 2040 goal, keeping them linked. The main alternative is to base the U.N.-mandated plan on the EU’s further-off 2050 climate neutrality deadline, resulting in a weaker 2035 goal.

The Danes want environment ministers to vote on both targets on Sept. 18, giving them just two weeks to get countries on board. 

But several EU countries want to separate the two — in some cases to have more time to negotiate the 2040 target, in others to water down the 2035 goal. In June, French President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted to decouple the two targets. 

Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary also favor a discussion at the leader level. A fourth diplomat said Italy also wanted “a political discussion and more time” to agree on the target. 

Neither the French government nor the Elysée responded to a request for comment.

Nicolas Camut contributed reporting from Paris.