* EU leaders call for deal on climate change funding
* Leaders hope to agree deal on Lisbon reform treaty
* Nine countries unhappy with funding proposal
(Adds summit starts, Danish and Polish ministers)
By Ilona Wissenbach and Jan Lopatka
BRUSSELS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - European Union leaders urged
member states to agree on funding for a global climate change
deal at a summit on Thursday but faced a rift between countries
from eastern and western Europe.
The dispute over funding to help developing countries fight
the effects of global warming is one of the main issues at a
two-day summit that will also try to remove obstacles to the
Lisbon reform treaty that would create an EU president.
Failure to break the deadlock could leave the 27-country
bloc looking impotent and undermine efforts to strengthen its
global influence to match the rise of emerging powers such as
China following the economic crisis. []
"Now is the time to formulate the EU climate mandate,"
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds
the EU presidency until the end of this year, told reporters
before the summit began in Brussels.
He urged member states to show leadership on climate change
before world leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to agree a
successor to the Kyoto Protocol on battling climate change which
expires in 2012.
But the divisions over financing are deep and a battle is
looming between nine of the EU's poorer member states in eastern
Europe and the rest of the bloc.
The nine oppose agreement on how much funding to give
developing countries until the EU agrees on internal burden
sharing, the amount each EU state will provide, and said they
were not happy with a Swedish proposal to resolve the issue.
"The burden-sharing proposal is not acceptable in its
current form," Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the EU would have to
call a special summit before the Copenhagen talks to secure an
agreement if there was no deal on Friday.
"It doesn't make any sense to leave Brussels without any
conclusion," he said.
KEEPING WALLETS IN POCKETS
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's position is vital. She has
opposed a quick funding deal, saying the EU should wait for
others to show their hand, but some EU leaders hope she will be
flexible now she has been re-elected and formed a government.
"I want Copenhagen to be a success. The EU has to make clear
its ideas. But it is crucial that the United States and China
also make clear what they are willing to contribute," she said.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, whose country
hosts the December talks, regretted "some of my colleagues think
we should keep our wallet in the pocket for some time."
Leaders were more hopeful about the chances of agreement on
the other main issue at the summit -- resolving a dispute with
Czech President Vaclav Klaus that has delayed ratification of
the Lisbon reform treaty. []
All EU states except the Czech Republic have ratified the
treaty, intended to ease decision-making, create an EU president
and give the bloc's foreign policy chief more power.
Klaus has said he will sign the treaty only if he secures an
opt-out from a human rights charter that is attached to it to
shield the Czech Republic from property claims by ethnic Germans
who were expelled after World War Two.
The EU leaders hope to agree on a political declaration that
is acceptable to Klaus, probably promising to add the Czech
Republic to a list of countries that have an opt-out. So far
only Britain and Poland have opt-outs.
"We are progressing here slowly. Nevertheless I am
optimistic," Merkel said.
The delay over the treaty has held up decisions on who will
become EU president. Reinfeldt said no names would be discussed
at the summit but diplomats have said there could be discussion
of how leaders see the roles.
Agreement to choose a leader with name recognition outside
the EU would favour a candidate such as former British Prime
Minister Tony Blair. Agreement on a more bureaucratic president
who would lead by consensus could rule him out of the job.
[]
(Writing by Timothy Heritage, additional reporting by Pete
Harrison, David Brunnstrom, John O'Donnell, Bate Felix and
Marcin Grajewski; Editing by Paul Casciato)
