Poland refuses to pay poorer nations' climate tab

(BRUSSELS) - Poland on Friday put a giant spoke in European negotiations on financing the fight to tame global warming when it refused to stump up for richer, western partners.

"Quite frankly, from our point of view it's totally unacceptable that the poor countries of Europe should help the rich countries of Europe to help the poor countries in the rest of the world," said Polish Finance Minister Jan Rostowski.

"We will not agree to a mechanism which would lead to such a completely unjust proposal," he added.

European Union finance ministers are meeting in Gothenburg seeking to agree on who pays how much into a pot aimed at convincing newly industrialised countries to sign up to a post-2012 global pact.

The European Commission estimates that five billion to seven billion euros annually will be needed in the 2010-2012 period until long-term "financial architecture" is put in place, hopefully, at a UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December.

Brussels says the annual figure needed to help developing nations combat and deal with climate change will hit 100 billion euros (147 billion dollars) per year by 2020.

Polish heavy industry -- firmly at odds with the likes of nuclear-powered -- already scored a major victory last week when a top European court annulled the commission's attempt to limit the amount of greenhouse gases it can emit.

Six other eastern EU countries -- Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania -- are pursuing similar appeals.

Disagreements have also emerged among EU member states on Franco-German ideas for a carbon tax on imports from regions with poor environmental standards.