Brussels- European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Tuesday called on all of the European Union's 27 leaders to endorse a wide-ranging financial rescue plan approved in Paris on Sunday by the 15 countries that share the euro.

"I am glad that there is now a consensus on the necessity and on the substance of a coherent effort," Barroso said. "I expect confirmation and strengthening of this coherent effort by the European Council."

EU leaders are due to meet in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday for a regular autumn summit whose content will largely be devoted to the credit crunch.

Brussels  - The European Union should strengthen its fight against global warming, not weaken it in the face of the financial crisis, the head of the EU's executive insisted on Tuesday ahead of a major EU summit in Brussels.

"Of course we understand that in financially difficult moments governments become defensive, but it is our duty to call the attention of governments and the public to responsibility," European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso told journalists.

Brussels - The European Union's executive body on Monday set out the rules that EU member states should follow when rescuing banks or financial institutions on the day that the bloc's biggest members, Germany and France, published their own massive guarantee schemes.

"This guidance demonstrates how (EU) state-aid rules form an important part of the solution to current problems on financial markets," EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement.

Brussels - The "strategic deal" which the European Union is currently refusing to negotiate with Russia is a sweeping legal agreement designed to regulate the relationship for years to come.

At present, the relationship between the two sides is governed by a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) negotiated with the government of Boris Yeltsin in 1997.

The PCA is a contract governing matters such as trade, investment, environmental protection, tourism, and cultural exchanges.

Brussels - The European Union has had problems in its relationship with Belarus ever since the introduction of authoritarian power by President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been referred to as "Europe's last dictator", in 1996-97.

In 1997, the bloc's foreign ministers decided that the EU should cut all aid to the country which was not focused on humanitarian or democratic objectives, and decided that only the EU's central organs would be authorized to meet with Belarusian ministers.

Brussels - Belgium's right-wing Flemish party Vlaams Belang (VB), known for its anti-foreigner rhetoric, Saturday mourned the car accident death of rightist Austrian politicial Joerg Haider.