Brussels  - A number of mid-sized European Union members will complain to the bloc's presidency about their exclusion from world talks on the financial crisis when other similar-sized states have been invited, top officials in Brussels said Sunday.

"We have - we are going to approach the presidency about this matter with other countries," Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen told journalists at the opening of an EU summit.

However, the move will be made by EU foreign ministers in the coming days, not at Sunday's emergency EU summit in Brussels, he said.

Brussels  - One possible explanation for the ongoing rows within the European Union over who should attend international talks on the financial and economic crises is that the bloc includes at least six countries which currently head international organizations.

THE CZECH REPUBLIC is the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, which hands over every six months. It took over the job from France on January 1 and is to pass it on to Sweden on July 1.

The Czech EU presidency has called two emergency summits on the economic crisis, the first on Sunday to reject protectionism, and the second in May to discuss the troubles of the labour market.

Brussels  - The European Union will provide financial assistance to countries in trouble on a case-by-case basis, rather than create a special bailout fund for Central and Eastern Europe, according to draft conclusions to be discussed at Sunday's emergency EU summit.

According to the draft, "macro-financial stability throughout Europe" should be ensured by working out "possible concrete action on a case-by-case basis."

"Eastern Europe is not a special category," said Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who chairs Sunday's meeting as the current EU president.

"I will support an EU approach for support to any country, not especially Eastern European," Topolanek said.

Brussels  - European Union leaders gathered in Brussels on Sunday for a summit designed to shore up the bloc's beleaguered unity in the midst of a damaging row over protectionism and fears that the EU may risk breaking into splinter groups.

"We do not want any new dividing lines; we do not want a Europe divided along a North-South or an East-West line; pursuing a beggar-thy-neighbour policy is unacceptable," Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who is to chair the meeting as current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, said on the eve of the summit.

Brussels - The European Court should be allowed to set the standard for asylum decisions across the European Union, and Sweden could push for that when it takes over the bloc's presidency in July, the country's immigration and asylum minister said Friday.

"If you get an asylum application, you need a body that says that this decision should apply to all similar applications," Tobias Billstrom told journalists in Brussels.

Brussels - The European Union will demand that the United States grant it access to all secret files on released Guantanamo inmates before agreeing to host any of them on its territory, officials in Brussels said Thursday.

"There can't be anything that is kept secret from a country that wishes to take in a Guantanamo detainee," said Czech Interior Minister Ivan Langer.

"Everything should be transparent and open," said Langer, whose country holds the EU rotating presidency.