The climate of Europe is of a temperate, continental nature, with a maritime climate prevailing on the western coasts and a Mediterranean climate in the south. The climate is strongly conditioned by the Gulf Stream, which keeps mild air over the high latitude northwestern region over the winter months, especially in Ireland, the UK and coastal Norway. Whilst Western Europe has an oceanic climate, Eastern Europe has a drier, continental climate. Parts of the Central European plains have a hybrid oceanic/continental climate. Four seasons occur in Eastern Europe, while southern Europe experiences distinct wet season and dry seasons, with prevailing hot and dry conditions during the summer months. The heaviest precipitation occurs downwind of water bodies due to the prevailing westerlies, with higher amounts also seen in the Alps. Tornadoes occur within Europe, with most but not all occurrences being weak. The Netherlands and United Kingdom experience a disproportionately high number of tornadic events.^{[citation needed]}

Dame Joan Ruddock, DBE, MP (née Joan Mary Anthony; born 28 December 1943, Pontypool, Torfaen) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham Deptford since 1987. Ruddock was Minister of State for Energy at the Department of Energy and Climate Change until 11 May 2010.

Ruddock was educated at Pontypool Girls grammar school and at Imperial College London. Prior to her election to Parliament, she was chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, a UK pressure group; she resigned in 1985. Originally on the hard left of the Labour Party, she was a member of the Socialist Campaign Group but resigned in 1988 in protest at Tony Benn's decision to challenge Neil Kinnock for the leadership.

During the government of Tony Blair, she briefly served as Minister for Women. She returned to government when Gordon Brown appointed her Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at Defra in June 2007 with responsibility for biodiversity, climate change adaptation, waste and domestic forestry. In October 2008 she was transferred to the newly created Department of Energy and Climate Change, continuing in her previous role. In the June 2009 reshuffle she was promoted to Minister of State level, with responsibility for energy policy.

Connie Hedegaard (born 15 September 1960) is a Danish politician and public intellectual who has been European Commissioner for Climate Action in the (second Barroso) European Commission since 10 February 2010.

On behalf of Denmark, she hosted the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009. She was Danish Minister for Climate and Energy from 23 November 2007 as a member of the Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen III and that of Lars Løkke Rasmussen and had been the Danish Minister for the Environment from 2 August 2004 to 23 November 2007, as a member of the Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen I and II.

In Denmark, she was a member of the Conservative People's Party (DKF), and was a member of parliament (Folketing) from 10 January 1984 to 3 October 1990. She was also elected a member of the Folketing in the 2005 Danish parliamentary election. Prior to becoming a minister, she worked as a journalist at DR, the Danish national broadcaster.

Taking up her new position at the European Commission on 10 February 2010, Connie Hedegaard stressed the importance of climate change in the 21st century. She hoped that by the end of her five-year term, Europe would be the most climate friendly region in the world. Her priorities would be to implement the European Climate and Energy package and to continue her efforts towards an ambitious international climate agreement.