European Union leaders meeting in Brussels have agreed on funds to help the developing world address climate change and demanded the same from the U.S. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also says that Washington's emissions reduction pledge doesn't go far enough.

There is a rule of thumb for European Union summits in Brussels: the shorter they are, the better the participants get along with each other. And the summit on Thursday and Friday of this week was an unusually quick one. By the middle of the day on Friday, the heads of government and state from the 27 E.U. member states were able to present their strategy as the Copenhagen climate talks enter their decisive phase.

Leaders from all 27 E.U. countries are to head to the Danish capital next week in an effort to convince those who are dragging their feet, particularly the United States and China, to make concessions on a climate deal. "I can tell you now, it will be a turbulent week," said German Chancellor Merkel. "It will be extremely complicated. And it will not be a tension-free process."

Europe is convinced that it has done its part in setting the stage for an agreement. E.U. leaders agreed in Brussels to provide poor countries with annual assistance of €2.4 billion ($3.5 billion) from 2010 to 2012. The money is to go toward immediate measures to help them both deal with the effects of climate change and to combat global warming. Germany has pledged €420 million per year to the fund. The E.U. also reinforced its offer to provide developing countries €30 billion annually starting in 2020 to address climate change.