Brussels  - Germany is already doing its share and will not spend more money to help lift the European Union out of recession, the country's finance minister, Peer Steinbrueck, said Monday.

"Germany is putting 31 billion euros (39.5 billion dollars) on the table. That is 1.25 per cent of our gross domestic product. I am not sure everyone has properly registered this," Steinbrueck said in Brussels.

Steinbrueck and his fellow eurozone ministers were holding a first discussion on the European Commission's economic recovery plan, which will have to be approved by heads of state and government at a summit due to take place on December 11-12.

Prague - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek met with the Dalai Lama amid tensions between China and the European Union over French President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to meet the exiled Tibet's spiritual leader during his Europe tour.

Topolanek's spokesman Jakub Stadler confirmed that an hour-long "private meeting" took place Sunday at the premier's official residency, the Kramar Villa.

China strongly opposes the Dalai Lama's meetings with foreign heads of state and government.

Warsaw - Some 50 people blocked a pedestrian crossing at the Polish-Ukrainian border Monday in protest over new European Union regulations that limit how many cigarettes can be brought across the border.

The new regulations took effect at midnight, and allow a maximum of two packs of cigarettes allowed through the crossing.

The protesters are mainly people who have made a living bringing over cheap cigarettes from Ukraine to sell them in Poland, reported the Polish Press Agency PAP.

The protesters say they are demanding changes in regulations and will continue their action for at least a week, PAP reported.

Prague - The Czech Republic's parliament is unlikely to ratify the European Union's reform treaty before the country assumes the EU rotating presidency on January 1, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said Sunday.

Speaking in a television interview, Topolanek said there was not enough time left for the vote and that the eurosceptic lawmakers for his senior ruling Civic Democratic Party could reject the Lisbon Treaty amid the party's internal squabbles.

The Czech Republic is the last member state to vote on the accord, which has been stalled since Irish voters rejected it in a June referendum.

London/Paris  - The European Commission is blocking the French government's plan to bail out its six largest banks by insisting that state funds can not be used for commercial lending, Britain's Financial Times reported Friday on its website.

According to the report, EU Competition Commissioner Nellie Kroes has rejected pleas by French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to approve the French
10.5-billion-euro (13.3-billion-dollar) plan.

The Financial Times quoted an unnamed EU official as saying, "We have to apply the same criteria to everyone ... support should be sufficient to offset the negative impact of the current financial crisis and no more."

Paris  - The European Union's sport ministers called Friday on the European Commission to study whether a proposed "6+5 rule" in football is compatible with European law.

Joseph Blatter, president of football ruling body FIFA, has been pressing for the rule which would force clubs to name a minimum of six home-grown players in their starting line-ups.

The ministers in Nice asked the Commission to look at "the compatability of a minimum requirement to field players eligible for the national team with European law," French sports minister Bernard Laporte said.

FIFA has been told the proposed rule would be illegal under EU law which allows free movement of workers within member states.