Disunity on renewables ahead of EU summit talks

"We must set clear targets" on cutting CO2 emissions and on a bigger share of renewable energy in the EU, Ms Merkel said as she joined a pre-summit meeting.

Germany - backed by the European Commission and countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK - is proposing a binding target of 20 percent of renewable energy across the bloc by 2020. It currently only accounts for seven percent.

But member states are realistc about the difficulty of reaching an agreement.

"It will be a very hard battle because we do not agree," said Danish foreign minister Per Stig Moller adding "but I'm still hoping."

"If we do not manage to set targets for renewables, then Europe will not assume a leadership role," warned Luxembourg prime minister Jean Claude Juncker.

The eyes of the world are on Brussels tonight as EU leaders seek to agree the world's toughest policies to help fight climate change.

"Who else would take up the flag?" asked Austrian chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer.

France, Poland and most of the new member states however oppose the renewable energy target.

Led by Paris, they prefer a 'non-carbon and low-carbon' target that includes nuclear energy instead of a renewable energy target only.

But a sign of compromise came from president Lech Kaczynski of Poland, who together with other new member states and France, is resisting the targets.

"Poland today has low levels of renewable energy, some five percent, so over-ambitious plans for the next few years are unfavourable from the point of view of Poland's attempt to catch up [with western European economies]," he said at a press conference in the afternoon.

"But if we approach this more flexibly, such as with [EU] average goals - some EU countries already have 20 percent - then I think a compromise that satisfied everybody is reachable," he stated.

"We have to remember that nuclear energy is much more friendly in terms of air pollution," said Bulgarian prime minister Sergey Stanishev.

However, such a move is strongly opposed by non-nuclear using countries - especially Austria and Luxembourg.

"We would not accept any European wording on promotion of nuclear energy," Austria's Mr Gusenbauer stated ahead of the meeting, adding that "it should be kept a national matter."

"After 30 years of nuclear energy we still do not know how to properly handle nuclear waste," he pointed out.