EU leaders seek to break deadlock on climate aid

Trying to forge a united stand on climate change, the 27-nation European Union considered a new proposal Friday that would let poorer eastern members pay less into a climate change aid fund than the bloc's leading countries.

EU leaders opened a final day of summit talks Friday trying to accommodate nine eastern EU members hard hit by the global financial crisis. The members - including Hungary and Poland - made it clear that their crisis-stretched budgets had little extra money to support a fund to help developing nations cope with global warming.

The nine demanded concessions so the EU could reach a united deal on climate aid ahead of the December U.N. conference on climate change in Copenhagen.

After Thursday's talks deadlocked, diplomats worked into the night to present a new draft that shields poorer member states better. The watered-down draft was obtained by The Associated Press.

"We understand the legitimate concerns of eastern members while of course understanding everybody has to contribute," said Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

Germany was confident the 27 nations would emerge from the summit united.

"I am very optimistic that we will have good results and that we will come to good results together," said Germany Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.

The new draft said countries had the option of paying "their fair share" into the climate change fund.

The Copenhagen summit is seen as a watershed moment for fighting climate change and for global cooperation. For years the EU has been seeking out the moral high ground, challenging other powers such as the United States and China to match Europe's commitment.

A united stand is necessary if the EU wants to live up to its self-proclaimed leadership on combating climate change.

The EU executive says developing nations need annual help of euro100 billion ($148 billion) by 2020, of which EU governments and companies should contribute up to euro40 billion ($59 billion).

Summit chairman Fredrik Reinfeldt, the prime minister of Sweden, said EU nations needed to take into account how badly many of them have been hit by the financial crisis.

U.N. officials say a European declaration on finance could go a long way toward breaking the stalemate in the climate talks.

Developing countries are holding back from giving firm commitments to slow the growth of their carbon dioxide emissions until they know how much aid they can expect to help them adjust to changing climate conditions.

With the U.S. hamstrung by Congress, which has yet to approve U.S. emissions targets, poorer countries are looking to the EU to set the standard that they expect other industrialized countries to match.

The EU announced last year it would decide by spring how much it would contribute, and the delay has led to frustration among climate negotiators.

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Associated Press writers Constant Brand, Raf Casert, Robert Wielaard and Barbara Schaeder contributed to this report.