Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg (C), flanked by European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia (L) and European taxation and custom union commissioner responsible Laszlo Kovacs (R) speak at a press conference after a EU Economy and Finance meeting (ECOFIN) on October 20. (Jean-Christophe Verhaegen/AFP/Getty Images)
Financial aid from rich nations is a sticking point in the run-up to the climate talks in the Danish capital in December on finding a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol, which is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, when it expires in 2012.
"We have not been able to reach a conclusion," Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg, whose country holds the 27-country bloc's presidency until the end of the year, told reporters after talks in Luxembourg.
"It is a disappointing outcome. At the end of the day, the issue will have to be dealt with at the European Council (of EU leaders) at the end of October."
Poor countries say they cannot cut emissions and adapt to changing temperatures without help from industrialised nations, which grew rich in the first place by fuelling their industries with hydrocarbons and polluting the atmosphere.
The European Union's executive, the European Commission, suggested last month the EU provide up to 15 billion euros ($22.46 billion) a year by 2020 to break the impasse.
To prove they are sincere in theri efforts, rich nations should also provide 5 to 7 billion euros a year of "fast-track funding" in the three years before the Copenhagen deal takes effect, the Commission said.
"We got stuck on the definition of internal allocation that is desired by some countries... and how to internally compensate states that could be more overburdened than average," Deputy Finance Minister Joerg Asmussen told reporters.
"I warned, from the German side, against putting complete figures on the table too early," he added.
Luxembourg Finance Minister Luc Frieden said it was enough that European countries had sketched out their intentions.
"Putting the figures in this text at this moment would have been preferred but it is not essential," he said. "The essential thing is that we want a European response and that Europe must play a leading role in the flight against climate change."
