Todd Stern, the US president's envoy for climate change, said the European Union was the only remaining "major player" that would potentially support a continuation of the protocol after its provisions expire in 2012. The lack of support from other countries bodes ill for the forthcoming talks at Durban.

S&P downgraded its unsolicited ratings on Italy to A/A-1 from A+/A-1+ and kept its outlook on negative, sending the euro more than half a cent lower against the dollar.

"If they ignore Turkey, Europe will be the one that loses," Gül told journalists accompanying him on his way to Germany, where he is spending a four-day visit from 18 to 21 September. He added: "Germany and Turkey are the only healthy countries of Europe".

Gül also said that Turkey alone had a role in international politics "as important as the whole EU".

The document, to be discussed by ministers over breakfast, is the latest from the European Commission to urge all 27 member nations to put collective energy needs above domestic agendas.

It follows announcements by Germany, which has unilaterally decided to phase out all its atomic plants by 2022 following the nuclear disaster in Fukushima earlier this year.

Italy voted to ban nuclear energy in 1987 and again rejected any resumption of the power source in a referendum this year.

While the EU currently has many initiatives to develop renewable energy in urban areas, such the smart cities initiative, Euromontana regrets that the specific needs of rural areas are too often being neglected.

Recent eurozone member Slovakia gathered a majority of 55% of respondents saying that the euro's effect on their country's economy is "good", while 31% say it is "not good". Second is Italy, where 49% believe that the euro is "good", against 46% who have a more negative assessment.

The survey covered 12 countries, among which the six largest EU countries, as well as EU newcomers Romania and Bulgaria.

"Our goal is to form a stable government, which is united, with a joint programme, goals and an action plan for three years," former President Valdis Zatlers, whose party came second following the 17 September snap elections (see ' Background'), was quoted by Baltic news agency BNS as saying.

A group of 19 European scientists have argued that the EU's biofuels policy was based on a "serious accounting error" and should be changed, triggering a row with the European Commission, which defends biofuels for being "carbon neutral".

Ministers and central bank governors from the 17 countries using the euro and the broader 27-nation European Union met on Friday and Saturday in the Polish city of Wroclaw to discuss Europe's slowing economic growth and progress in beefing up eurozone