BRUSSELS - European leaders on Friday pledged billions of euros to developing countries to try to win their support for a climate deal in Copenhagen.

Finance has emerged as a major stumbling block to a global climate agreement in Copenhagen to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the UN's main tool for fighting global warming. The Kyoto agreement expires in 2012.

Poor nations are unconvinced that industrialized states will fulfil pledges to help fund emissions cuts, but the EU hopes those suspicions might be allayed by rich countries paying up to 7 billion euros ($10.3 billion) a year until the new climate agreement kicks in. The EU would pay about a third of that.

One EU source said member states had pledged a total of 1.8 billion euros annually to help the developing countries during the three-year period, and another said that total was likely to reach up to 2.1 billion euros annually.

About 17 of the EU's 27 member states have contributed, but some poorer EU countries were unable to join in.

Public finances of many EU countries are in disarray after the worst economic crisis since World War Two, with budget deficits and debt levels soaring.

Britain and France said on Friday they would jointly contribute at least 2.4 billion euros to fund developing countries' emissions cuts and other measures between 2010-2012.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he could increase Britain's offer to as much as 1.6 billion euros over the three years if he felt it would help secure an ambitious deal at Copenhagen.

Richer governments have been pouring tens of billions of euros into their economies to battle the crisis at home and save jobs, while poorer Hungary, Latvia and Romania have been forced to seek aid from the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission.

Greece faced a spike in the cost of selling bonds in recent weeks, compared to other countries that use the euro currency, reflecting investor concern over the government's ballooning budget deficit and mounting public debt.

Ireland has been forced to order unprecedented fiscal cuts.