EU leaders assess new climate change finance deal
Front row left to right, Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias, Romania's President Traian Basescu, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Second row left to right, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Estonia's Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and Malta's Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi during a group photo at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday Oct. 29, 2009. EU leaders open a difficult summit, facing an east-west rift over who should pay most to entice developing nations to sign up to a new global climate change pact.
Front row left to right, Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias, Romania's President Traian Basescu, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Second row left to right, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Estonia's Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and Malta's Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi during a group photo at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday Oct. 29, 2009. EU leaders open a difficult summit, facing an east-west rift over who should pay most to entice developing nations to sign up to a new global climate change pact.
EU leaders pose during a group photo at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday Oct. 29, 2009. Front row left to right, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, Finland's President Tarja Halonen, Lithuania's Prime Minister Dalia Grybauskaite, Poland's President Lech Kaczynski, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias, Romania's President Traian Basescu, French President Nikolas Sarkozy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Belgium's Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, and Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis.
EU leaders pose during a group photo at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday Oct. 29, 2009. Front row left to right, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, Finland's President Tarja Halonen, Lithuania's Prime Minister Dalia Grybauskaite, Poland's President Lech Kaczynski, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias, Romania's President Traian Basescu, French President Nikolas Sarkozy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Belgium's Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, and Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis.
The European Union is seeking to maintain a united stand on climate change by giving leeway to poorer member states to pay less into global climate aid fund.
EU leaders opened a final day of summit talks Friday facing a new proposal that would allow cash-strapped eastern EU states to pay less into a fund to entice developing nations to join an international climate pact by helping them cope with the effects of global warming.
The initial aid proposal was watered down after nine eastern EU members said they did not want to strain crisis-stretched budgets too far.
The EU hopes to agree on a firm figure for its contribution to the aid fund before the December U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen.
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