European Union leaders agreed at a summit in Brussels on Friday to contribute 7.2 billion euros (10.6 billion dollars) to a three-year global fund aimed at helping poor nations deal with global warming, according to dpa. At first sight, the figure looks impressive. But closer scrutiny casts doubt over its ability to sway developing nations and make a real difference at key UN climate change talks in Copenhagen. The headline figure, which is made up of voluntary contributions from the EU"s 27 member states, is equivalent to 2.4 billion euros per year between 2010 and 2012. It is higher than what many observers had expected, and it fulfills the bloc"s ambition of contributing about a third to a 10 billion-dollar annual "fast-start" fund that the UN says is needed from the world"s richest nations. EU heavyweights Britain, France and Germany are all contributing with about 1.2 billion euros each. Sweden is offering 750 million euros, Italy 600 million euros and Spain 375 million euros. While the United States has said it will contribute "a fair share," it has yet to commit a figure. The money is designed to help poor nations reduce their emissions and assist them in coping with the potentially devastating effects of global warming. EU officials say the kitty should facilitate a deal in Copenhagen, where talks will be wrapped up by world leaders on December 18. "This is a clear signal to Copenhagen that we are ready to do our share," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But all that glitters is not gold, critics warned Friday. First of all, not all of the money is new money. "The 2.4 billion euros are a combination of new and old resources," conceded Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who brokered negotiations in Brussels as the current holder of the EU"s rotating presidency. The head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, conceded afterwards that it would have been "extremely difficult" to ask governments for additional resources in the midst of a recession. "If we want to help developing countries we need to find additional resources. But in the current situation, it would be extremely difficult to ask (member states) for any additional measures," said Barroso, whose executive is to also contribute to the EU kitty with 450 million euros. Environmentalists reacted scathingly. "Many EU members have a track record of repackaging or re-announcing existing aid commitments. This appears to be the case here too. Real leadership on climate change requires real money and the EU is clearly failing here," said ActionAid"s EU expert Anne-Catherine Claude. "In Brussels today, EU leaders only offered small sums of short-term cash. Worst of all, this money is not even new - it"s made up of a recycling of past promises, and payments that have already been made," said Tim Gore of Oxfam. Aside from recycling existing aid commitments to developing nations, there are more catches. Poland"s contribution of just 60 million euros, for instance, is to "come from the sale of emission allowances," conceded Donald Tusk, the country"s prime minister. Critics also note that the EU"s overall contribution pales when compared to the amount of taxpayers" money that governments have spent to bail out banks affected by the global financial meltdown. But EU officials stress that expecting anything more would have been unrealistic. Hungary, Latvia and several other member states have had to resort to outside help in order to save their economies and have no spare capacity. And in any case, the EU is at least providing hard figures, unlike the US, the argument in Brussels goes. The 7.2-billion-euro contribution is to be used as a bargaining chip by EU leaders when they reconvene in Copenhagen during the final days of the conference. "We are showing leadership in taking our fair share of the fast-start money that we know is important to get the global agreement in place," Reinfeldt said. "We urge other parts of the developed world to make the same contributions," he said. The pressure is now on US President Barack Obama to deliver.
