Brussels  - European Union leaders were close to clinching a deal on the use of 5 billion euros (6.9 billion dollars) in community funds to stimulate the economy after Germany received assurances that the money would be spent by the end of 2010, sources close to the talks said Thursday.

A compromise text by the EU's Czech presidency, seen by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, states that "due to the urgent need for the stimulus, all legal commitments implementing the budgetary commitments ... should be made before the end of 2010."

Experts, however, expressed scepticism that member states would be able to spend the entire sum so quickly.

News of a possible deal came after its biggest critic, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said at the start of talks in Brussels that "any additional measures should only be taken if a substantial part of these measures can be implemented very quickly."

"Otherwise, they would not help tackle the crisis," Merkel said.

In November, the European Commission proposed allocating 5 billion euros in what it called "unused" community funds to finance a series of projects promoting high-speed internet, carbon capture and storage facilities, offshore wind farms and energy interconnections.

The money is only a small part of the EU's 400-billion-euro economic recovery package, which is intended to mitigate the impact of the bloc's worst recession in 60 years.

Member states had been squabbling over the proposal ever since it was presented, with the biggest contributor to the EU budget - Germany - initially arguing that any "unused" money should be returned to member states.

Meanwhile, several member states from southern and eastern Europe complained that not enough money was being spent on their regions.

A compromise text proposed by the Czech presidency includes the controversial Nabucco pipeline project, which is intended to carry gas from Central Asia to Austria via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, bypassing Russia.

However, the 7.9-billion-euro project has suffered a series of delays and is not expected to be completed before 2013, at the earliest.

The compromise text earmarks 2.3 billion euros for gas and electricity infrastructure projects. This total includes 200 million euros for Nabucco.

Some 505 million euros are to be spent on offshore wind energy projects, 1.2 billion for carbon capture and storage programs. A further 1 billion is earmarked for the spread of broadband internet in rural areas.

The compromise text makes it clear that no money will be taken from the EU's 2008 budget, thus meeting a request by Germany. It also allocates fresh money to Portugal, Austria and Spain.

"A deal would mark a victory for the Czech presidency, for (European Commission President Jose Manuel) Barroso and the EU," said Piotr Kaczynski of the Centre for European Policy Studies, a Brussels think tank. (dpa)