Agreement on the last day of an EU summit would add much needed impetus to efforts to reach a deal at global climate change talks in Copenhagen in December. Failure would be a big blow because the bloc has played a lead role in these efforts.
The EU's Swedish presidency drew up revised proposals after talks broke down on Thursday, largely because of a rift between nine countries from eastern Europe and the richer member states over how the burden should be shared. "It is extremely important that the European Union keeps the leadership role we have had," said Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, the EU executive. Developing countries say they will not sign up to tackling climate change without enough funds from rich nations.
A draft statement at the Brussels summit showed the leaders of the 27 EU countries were preparing to back an estimate that developing nations need 100 billion euros ($148.2 billion) a year by 2020 to tackle climate problems. But the poor EU member states want to know how the bill will be split to ensure they do not pay more than they can afford.
Many EU states say agreeing figures now would encourage other countries, such as the United States, to follow suit and give momentum to climate change talks. But Germany wants to wait until other global powers have said how much they will provide.
"I believe that we will come out of this summit with a clear message that will be a part of the talks with the United States, India and China. We want success -- but that will require a lot of work," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters. "The EU will be pioneering in this respect [financing]. However, the commitments will also be tied to other countries making similar financial pledges."
Blair’s hopes slide
The main achievement on the first day of the summit was an agreement opening the way to ratification of the Lisbon treaty, which would ease EU decision-making, create an EU president and increase the powers of its foreign policy chief. Under the deal, the leaders accepted Czech President Vaclav Klaus's demands for an opt-out from a rights charter attached to the Lisbon treaty to shield the Czech Republic from property claims by ethnic Germans expelled after World War II.
An aide said Klaus was satisfied with the decision, which met his condition for signing the treaty. Ratification by the Czech Republic, the only EU state holding out against signing, now depends on its constitutional court rejecting a legal challenge in a ruling expected on Tuesday. "The road to ratification now stands open," Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said. The leaders said they did not discuss who would be the EU president, but former British Prime Minister Blair's hopes faded when his candidacy failed to secure the blessing of European socialists who are his ruling Labour Party's allies.
The post is now more likely to go to a centre-right leader, especially as centre-right parties dominate the European Parliament and form a majority among EU leaders.
No front-runner has emerged but possible contenders include Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, former Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.
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