The economic stimulus plan proposed by the European Commission, global warming and the Lisbon Treaty are the main topics on the agenda at a summit of European Union (EU) leaders beginning on Thursday.

The two-day summit seeks to approve a 200-billion-euro economic recovery plan, unveiled by the European Commission at the end of last month to check the downturn trend of the EU economy.

The leaders of the EU's 27 member nations are yet to bridge differences over some details concerning the economic plan as some members have opposed the sum of the package.

Germany is reluctant to put in more money than the 32 billion euros it has announced to revive the economy, while Britain and France, together with the European Commission, insist that Germany, the biggest economy in the EU, spend more to pull itself out of recession and thus help other European economies.

Big differences also remain to be resolved on whether to cut value added tax (VAT) across the EU states and invest 5 billion euros of unused EU budget in energy and Internet infrastructure sectors.

Led by Germany, some countries prefer that the unused EU budget, totaling 120 billion euros, be returned to national treasuries rather than be invested in EU-wide projects.

Though euro-zone nations have raised objections to lowering VAT, Britain has already adopted the measure, cutting its VAT rate from17.5 percent to 15 percent, the lowest in the EU.

EU leaders also face the thorny issue of how to tackle global warming.

According to the European Commission proposal, the EU should cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and bring renewable energy sources up to 20 percent of total energy consumption.

Poland and Italy are among nations opposed to the package as they are worried it could affect their manufacturing sector.

Leaders at the EU summit are also expected to announce a compromise on the Lisbon Treaty, which was designed to help streamline the decision-making mechanism of the bloc.

(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2008)