U.N.'s Ban says EU role critical to reaching climate deal

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday the European Union's role would be "critically important" in the work to hammer out a climate pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen in December.

Ban Ki-moon, in Sweden to discuss climate issues ahead of the U.N. conference in Copenhagen, said the European Union has the most capacity to take a leading role in terms of finance, technology as well as political will.

"The European Union can play a role as locomotive," Ban told a news conference after meeting Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister of Sweden which holds the rotating EU Presidency.

"I hope that the European Union, under the leadership of Prime Minister Reinfeldt as President of the European Union, will play a role pulling our head up and pushing from behind. There are still some countries that are reluctant."

Negotiators at U.N. climate talks in Bangkok are trying to break a deadlock on finance and steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions as reports warn of dire consequences from global warming.

The Bangkok talks, which run until October 9, are the last major negotiating round before the gathering in Copenhagen which the U.N. has set as a deadline to seal a broad agreement on a pact to expand and replace the Kyoto Protocol.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Simon Johnson; Editing by Charles Dick)