Brussels - The French government has agreed to reimburse journalists who suffered additional expenses when a European Union- Ukraine summit was moved at the last minute from Evian to Paris, the International Press Association (API) in Brussels said Friday.

"The French foreign ministry has offered to reimburse all journalists on the production of receipts," API President Lorenzo Consoli told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The move follows numerous complaints from Brussels-based journalists who had been sent by their editors to cover the event.

The September 9 summit had originally been scheduled to take place in Evian, a spa town in the French Alps. But it was moved to the Elysee Palace in Paris - a six-hour train journey north - the evening before it was due to start.

This was because September 8 talks in Moscow over the Georgia crisis, which were attended by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in his capacity as current president of the EU, had taken longer than expected, organizers said at the time.

API welcomed Friday's announcement, noting that many journalists had either incurred additional expenses or had been unable to attend the summit altogether because of the move.

Journalists in Brussels have repeatedly criticized the French presidency of the EU over its organization of a number of meetings.

Top of their complaints are a lack of adequate working space during ministerial meetings and malfunctioning internet facilities. (dpa)