Luxembourg - The European Union's commitment to fighting climate change was thrown into question Tuesday when the bloc's finance ministers failed to reach a deal on how to help developing nations counter global warming. Marathon talks in Luxembourg ended without an agreement. Discussions are now set to resume at next week's summit of EU leaders in Brussels.
The EU is casting itself as the global leader in the fight against climate change and has, ahead of international talks due to take place in Copenhagen in December, promised to cut its emissions by at least 20 per cent below their 1990s levels by 2020.
The European Commission has called on member states to give up to 15 billions euros (22.5 billion dollars) of their taxpayers' money to the world's poorer nations by 2020 to fight climate change.
Additionally, the EU executive says wealthy nations should also provide additional immediate fundsing worth several billion euros between 2010 and 2013, so called fast-start funds that would become available before any possible Copenhagen deal would come into force.
But nine Eastern member states opposed the idea that the EU's contributions should be shared out between them on the basis of a formula set by emission levels and wealth.
Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic also said that any fast-start contributions should be provided only on a "voluntary" basis, while Germany sided with those nations that did not want to endorse the commission's figures in a common statement.
Their plans were blocked by Britain and Denmark, among others, meaning no common language could be agreed in Luxembourg.
"This is a disappointing outcome," said Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg, who chaired Tuesday's talks as holder of the EU presidency.
"There is obviously a lack of commitment," Borg said. "Given that Europe is taking the leadership on the climate issue, it is very, very important that we make further progress in the coming days and weeks."
Joaquin Almunia, the EU's economic and monetary affairs commissioner, also expressed disappointment at Tuesday's lack of progress.
"This is not a good outcome," Almunia said, "but it does not mean that Europe will not continue to be in the driving seat to find an agreement in Copenhagen."
The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, said the EU had "missed an opportunity."
Moreover, the lack of an agreement "should remind us that the road to an agreement in Copenhagen is not going to be easy," Darling said.
Britain has been one of the first EU countries to specify its level of contributions for poorer nations - 1 billion euros a year.
Discussions on the EU's climate change policies were set to resume on Wednesday with a meeting of EU environment ministers ahead of next Thursday's and Friday's summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels.
Under EU rules, summit deals must be reached unanimously by the bloc's 27 national leaders, meaning that any member state can veto an agreement.
