STOCKHOLM - EUROPEAN Union leaders will hold an extra meeting to discuss bonuses and the global financial crisis ahead of a summit of Group of 20 nations in the US later this month, the bloc's presidency said on Friday.

Sweden, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said the talks in Brussels on Sept 17 will focus on coordinating the 27-member bloc's position for the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh a week later.

The EU meeting will also address ways to pull the EU out of its deep economic slump and efforts to reach a new global climate change pact.

'All these questions and proposals need to be discussed among the EU's heads of state and government before Pittsburgh, so that the EU can have a common and strong position at the G-20 Summit and speak with one voice,' Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told reporters in Stockholm.

'The world needs leadership in situations such as these.'

A meeting of G-20 finance ministers and central bankers was being held in London on Friday and Saturday. -- AP

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