EU fails in climate change funding bid

LUXEMBOURG, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- An attempt to establish a European Union fund to help developing countries tackle climate change has failed, observers say.

A meeting of EU finance ministers Tuesday in Luxembourg, chaired by Swedish finance minister Anders Borg, descended into discord as Borg struggled to get EU states to agree on contributions to provide billions of dollars in "fast-track" funding to developing nations, the EUobserver reported.

"It is a disappointing outcome, that we weren't able to reach an agreement," Borg after the meeting. Greenpeace EU climate policy director Joris den Blanken said the session was a "fiasco," adding that it didn't bode well for the likelihood of securing a global deal in Copenhagen in December to replace the Kyoto protocol.

The publication said an agreement was hindered by demands from central and eastern EU countries that the "fast-track" funding be voluntary rather than mandatory and by disagreements on how countries' payment levels would be determined.

"We had a good opportunity today," British chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling told reporters. "Unfortunately, a number of countries wanted two things that the majority found unacceptable."