Brussels - The European Commission "stands ready" to support an emergency summit of major economies on the current financial crisis, as proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy at a meeting of the United Nations, officials in Brussels said Wednesday.

Plans for such a meeting "would still have to be worked out," but the European Union's executive "stands ready to participate in, and indeed to provide support for, any initiative that can further the stabilization of the financial markets," commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen said.

Brussels  - International talks on the summer's Georgian-Russian war are set to start in Geneva on October 15 on "expert level," the European Commission's top diplomat said Wednesday in a further twist to the ongoing debate over the talks.

After a meeting between European Union foreign ministers and their Russian counterpart in New York, EU Foreign-Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the two sides agreed that the talks "will be a meeting, most probably on October 15, on expert level first."

Brussels  - The European Commission on Tuesday proposed a price cap of 0.11 euros (0.16 dollars) on a text message sent by European Union mobile phone customers while travelling elsewhere in the 27-member bloc.

This compares with current average EU prices of 0.29 cents per SMS. The proposed cap, which excludes VAT charges, is to come into effect on July 1, 2009, Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said.

Brussels - The European Union on Monday called on three Indian states to lower their high import duties on spirits and wine, saying they contravene World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

India's states of Goa, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu represent some of the country's largest markets for wines and spirits.

And these states apply a variety of additional duties on such products, on top of a nation-wide 150 per cent import tariff, thus making it difficult for European producers to reach those markets.

Brussels  - After South African President Thabo Mbeki on Saturday agreed to step down, the European Union praised the leader as "an outstanding statesman."

EU chief diplomat Javier Solana in a statement noted Mbeki's work with other African nations, including Congo, Burundi and Zimbabwe, where he brokered a power-sharing deal just days ago.

"Once again South Africa's democracy has proved its high degree of maturity," Solana said.

Brussels - The French government has agreed to reimburse journalists who suffered additional expenses when a European Union- Ukraine summit was moved at the last minute from Evian to Paris, the International Press Association (API) in Brussels said Friday.

"The French foreign ministry has offered to reimburse all journalists on the production of receipts," API President Lorenzo Consoli told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The move follows numerous complaints from Brussels-based journalists who had been sent by their editors to cover the event.