Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister and current holder of the EU's six-month rotating residency, said he was confident that the sums would be found.
More than half of the EU's 27 member states have already promised so-called 'fast-start' funding for the next three years until 2013, he explained.
But the Swedish premier warned that contributions would only be made on a voluntary basis, as countries are in very different budgetary positions.
"We have [EU] member states with [International Monetary Fund] programmes, with huge budget deficits. This is on a voluntary basis, and already more than half of the states have provided figures," Reinfeltd told a press conference in Brussels yesterday (10 December).
- Britain last month pledged 880 million euros towards that target. On Friday (11 December), it said it was ready to raise that figure to 1.65 billion euros over three years.
- France has announced on Friday that it would make 1.26 billion available over the same period.
- Sweden has pledged about 800m euros.
- The Netherlands has pledged 300m euros.
- Denmark has set aside 160m euros.
- Spain has pledged 300m euros.
- Finland has pledged 100m euros.
Some countries are a cause for concern with their mounting debt problems, which critics say are partly caused by generous state aid programmes to relaunch Europe's economy after the worst recession the continent has suffered since the Second World War.
Greek debt problem
Greece, a member of the 16-country euro zone, was at the centre of concerns yesterday with a debt estimated at 300 billion euros, or 125% of GDP. The Stability and Growth Pact, which governs the euro zone, limits public debt to a maximum of 60% of GDP.
EU leaders tried to soothe concerns over Greece yesterday, with Eurogroup chair Jean-Claude Juncker saying he "completely excluded a bankruptcy of the Greek state". "The government will take measures for the short, medium and long term," Juncker said on the margins of a meeting of the European People's Party (EPP) in Bonn.
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said on Thursday he was confident Greece would overcome its debt problems.
"After talks with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, I am fully confident that Greece will be fully successful in that endeavour," Barroso told a news conference after the first day of the summit of EU leaders.
Eastern countries reluctant
Other eurozone nations such as Ireland have adopted austere budgets to improve their debt problem, while some Eastern European countries outside the euro, such as Hungary, are under life support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Meanwhile, Poland and other Eastern states such as Bulgaria have said they would rather receive aid to lower their carbon emissions than make contributions to poorer nations outside Europe.
Germany, the largest contributor to the EU budget, seems to prefer to tactically wait for other rich nations, such as the US, to put money on the table at the UN climate change conference currently taking place in Copenhagen.
