European leaders remained deadlocked tonight (29 October) on the issue of how much money the EU should pay towards a global deal on climate change.

“We have not solved it,” said Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt after the first round of discussions. At their meeting in Brussels, the national leaders rehearsed long-standing differences on the Union's tactics for the climate change conference in Copenhagen.

Swedish officials will be preparing another negotiating text, to be circulated to the other national delegations in the morning.

East-west divide

Tonight, Poland, Hungary and seven other central and eastern European member states insisted that the EU must agree how to share the cost before making a pledge to developing countries. Germany and Italy are opposed in principle to having figures in the text.

In the other camp, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the UK and the European Commission are arguing that the EU will damage its credibility in international negotiations if it does not declare its position on climate finance.

“I am confident that a solution will be found. It is extremely important that the EU keeps its leadership role,” said European Commission President José Manuel Barroso.

As the host of the Copenhagen conference, Denmark has been pushing for the EU to put numbers on the table. Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the Danish prime minister, said: “If we don't succeed here, that doesn't change anything. It only means that the task will be more difficult to resolve.”

Deep differences

But deep differences remain. Hungary's Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai told leaders that a draft compromise on climate ‘burden-sharing' was unacceptable. Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia met this morning and decided Bajnai would speak for them.

Poland has also been pressing for a burden-sharing deal. Speaking before the summit, Jacek Rostowski, Poland's finance minister, told the BBC that nine eastern European nations were ready to block climate finance if there was no burden-sharing. “There are countries there like Bulgaria and Latvia, which are considerably poorer than Brazil, and which would be expected to help Brazil in its adjustments to climate change,” he said.

The European Commission estimates that developing countries will need €100 billion each year by 2020 and puts the EU contribution at between €2bn-€15bn. Although this €100bn is in the draft of a summit communiqué to be published tomorrow, there is no sign of any decision on the EU's “fair share”.

Adaptation

Another point of contention is how much money the EU should give to developing countries over the next three years to help them make a fast transition to greener policies. Sweden is pressing for an agreement on ‘upfront' financing, estimating that around €5bn-€7bn will be needed globally from next year.

One EU source said this figure could be removed from the text overnight, because of German fears that it is incompatible with restoring the health of public finances. Central and eastern member states want upfront finance to be voluntary. Latvia, in particular, argues that its wrecked economy puts it in a difficult position to contribute.

Reinfeldt said that the Swedish presidency “will try to go for a strong mandate” for Copenhagen tomorrow.