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Emergency bid to find common climate position

By Jim Brunsden and Jennifer Rankin - 22.10.2009 / 05:15 CET

EU struggles to agree over climate change while Czech threats continue to loom over Lisbon treaty.

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Eurozone sets out stark choice for Greek voters

A meeting of European Union leaders that had been convened next week to discuss ways of promoting economic growth is shaping up instead to be a crisis summit on Greece.

Deadlocked Greece casts cloud on euro

Political uncertainty jeopardises Greece's ability to receive further instalments of international loans.

An EU-friendly French government?

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and European Minister Bernard Cazeneuve campaigned against EU constitution.

Fact file

BALTIC SEA STRATEGY TO BE LAUNCHED

The EU's newest regional club will get its official launch at next week's summit (29-30 October), when EU leaders approve a plan aimed at cleaning up the Baltic Sea and improving links between the countries around it.

Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and Denmark will be party to the Baltic Sea strategy, which aims to lower trade barriers, cut cross-border crime, but above all tackle the sea's acute environmental problems.

The Baltic, a shallow brackish sea polluted by chemicals and untreated sewage, has experienced a boom in shipping, with traffic doubling in the last decade. The Baltic Sea strategy will initiate plans to stop untreated sewage and fertilisers from running into the sea, as well as more co-operation between maritime authorities on emergency response.

The strategy was published by the Commission in June, following a request from the European Council in 2007. Sweden is prioritising the strategy during its six-month presidency and will call for speedy implementation.

FINANCE PROGRESS REPORT

Anders Borg, the Swedish finance minister, will submit a letter to the summit reporting on progress made in reforming financial supervision in the EU.

The Swedish presidency is seeking confirmation from EU leaders that it can begin negotiations with the European Parliament on the creation of a European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), a high-level body that will give early warnings of threats to the EU's financial stability. Finance ministers on Tuesday (20 October) reached an informal agreement on the ESRB's structure and powers that Sweden hopes will be confirmed at the summit.

The Swedish presidency plans for the agreement on the ESRB to be formally adopted by finance ministers, without further discussion, in December, as part of a package of supervisory reforms. The UK, however, has indicated that it may seek to reopen discussions on the ESRB as a tactic to secure concessions on other parts of the package.