BRUSSELS European Union environment ministers, meeting for the first time since world climate talks collapsed in The Hague last month, were uncertain on Monday that fresh talks could be held in Oslo later this week.

The United Nations-backed Climate Conference broke down over differences between Europe and the U.S. on how to cut emissions of "greenhouse gases" thought to contribute to climate change.

The 15 EU nations were due to discuss how they could try and reach agreement with the United States.

Both sides are keen to bridge their differences on the climate issue before President-Elect George W. Bush takes power in Washington at the end of January.

Bush is thought to be less keen than President Bill Clinton on trying to do a deal on how to tackle the threat of global warming.

Norway has offered to host fresh talks between the two sides later this week, but only if they consider progress is likely.

"Today's meeting is intended to see how we could continue these discussions speaking (in a) unified (way)," EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom said as she arrived at the EU talks. "It's a very important meeting."

The Hague talks were supposed to settle the rules on how to implement a 1997 pact made in Kyoto, Japan, where industrialized nations agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by an average of five percent of 1990 levels by 2010.

Franco-British Row

The sudden breakdown in The Hague lead to recriminations between Britain, which favored a compromise deal with the United States, and France, which backed a firmer European stance against the so-called flexible mechanisms sought by the U.S.

Greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), are blamed by many scientists for increasing global temperatures, a trend that could lead to rising sea levels, floods and droughts.

The EU rejected U.S. proposals to use forests and farmland as CO2 "sinks" to soak up emissions and account for some of its Kyoto targets. Europe claimed the U.S. was trying to renegotiate the Kyoto figures.

Britain's Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said on Monday it was crucial to try to get a deal with the United States quickly.

"Certainly the negotiating machinery changes when George Bush comes in, that is why this window of opportunity is absolutely important to get some settlement now," Prescott told BBC radio.

"If we don't get an agreement, all will be losers, whether it's Clinton's regime or Bush's regime," Prescott said. Clinton leaves office on January 20.

Prescott and France's Green Environment Minister Dominique Voynet, who chairs the two-day EU meeting, exchanged barbed comments in the media over The Hague summit.

Voynet accused Prescott of being "macho" when he claimed she had failed to understand the details of a compromise he had negotiated with the United States.

Ministers arriving at Monday's meeting played down the significance of splits within the EU, but were downbeat about the possibility of agreeing a new position which could lead to fresh talks later this week.

"I am rather skeptical, but we will see," German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin told Reuters.

Climate change is just one part of a packed two-day agenda as France tries to push ahead on a range of environmental measures including rules on noise pollution and a law on recycling electrical and electronic waste.

(Reuter)