EU climate deal unravelling - fears - News in brief

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As pressure mounted on government finances across the EU, Italy and Poland called for tough - and expensive - environmental targets to be dropped.

The threat came at an EU summit after Gordon Brown had won full backing for sweeping new plans to reshape the international financial order.

The Prime Minister's standing on the world stage was boosted once again when the G8 group of major industrialised nations agreed to take part in a "Bretton Woods"-style conference, probably before the end of the year.

Mr Brown, supported by France, Germany and the European Commission, told the summit in Brussels that, despite the financial crisis, EU pledges to cut carbon emissions must not be compromised.

But late on Wednesday night Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi warned the targets were now unattainable because of the financial burden of crashing markets and imminent recession.

He insisted that Italy would veto summit conclusions reaffirming the green commitment unless his concerns were met.

Poland - another EU country with long-standing reservations about the climate change aims - also expressed deep reluctance to meet pledges all EU governments made last year to cut CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020.

Mr Brown said that, despite the cost of going green, EU governments and citizens would save in the long run from the switch to greener energy.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said: "The situation at the moment is difficult. There is a lot of pressure from some who believe that we should be more prudent and more cautious on climate change because of the financial situation."