European Union leaders meeting on Thursday in Brussels offered Greece verbal support but no funds to deal with its spiralling debt.

Greece's financial problems were not officially on the agenda of the EU summit, but were discussed. The Greek budget deficit and public debt is running at around 300 billion euros, getting on for 13 percent of the country's output this year. The government in Athens has announced tough measures in an attempt to reassure the financial markets.

The EU summit is continuing into Friday and is centred on the issue of climate change. The European leaders hope to give an example to the climate conference taking place in Copenhagen by offering poor countries help in tackling global warming.

photo: EU Brussels (EPA)