EU leaders hammer out common positions for G20 summit

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt (R) and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the press conference after the summit, Sept 17,2009.[Xinhua]

In particular, bankers' bonuses should be set at an appropriate level made dependent on the performances of the financial institutions they managed.

Part of bankers' bonuses must be deferred over time for an appropriate period and could be canceled in case of a negative development in the bank's performance, EU leaders said.

Stock options must be prevented from being exercised for an appropriate period of time, they said.

EU leaders also wanted the G20 summit to "explore ways to limit " bonuses to a certain proportion of either total pay or the bank' s revenues or profits.

CLIMATE FINANCING UNCLEAR

Besides economic recovery and financial reforms, the global talks on a climate deal were also expected to feature high on the agenda of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.

World governments are scheduled to conclude a deal in Copenhagen, Denmark in December to create a new framework for further international action on climate change, following on from the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period which ends in 2012.

One of the sticky issues is how much developed countries can pay to help poor nations combat global warming.

"The developing world needs our help to pay the bill, a bill that we helped to create through our emissions.

We have today therefore started to look at the course," Reinfeldt said.

EU leaders agreed to an estimate by the European Commission that the total net incremental cost of mitigation and adaptation in developing countries could amount to about 100 billion euros ( $147 billion) annually by 2020.

The Commission proposed last week that the EU could contribute some 2 to 15 billion euros a year by 2020 to help poor nations, but the amount was criticized by environmental groups as being too small.

"To make progress, we need to talk figures. That is why we have put on the table the proposal. Our message to the developing world is that if they are serious about the challenge of cutting emissions, we will be there to help," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

EU leaders did not make clear whether they had accepted the EU' s contribution in total as proposed by the Commission, but pressed other countries, including emerging economies, also to pay.

"All countries, except the least developed, should contribute to financing the fight against climate change in developing countries with finance allocated according to need so that developing countries receive more than they are contributing," they said in the conclusion document.

• EU's common positions for G20 summit

• A climate smart future
• G20 summit should keep global recovery continuing
• Pittsburgh sees China support
• Take the global imbalance seriously
• Italian experts says G20 summit to implement new financial governance

• A step in the right direction to peace
• It is the West which uses protectionism

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