Deep rifts seen among EU powerhouses

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, said Sunday's talks among Europe's largest economies in Berlin had exposed deep rifts.

"If I put it very tenderly, the divergence in opinions was rather big," Topolanek told reporters on the plane home from the talks.

The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands met in Berlin to nail down a joint European stance for the Group of 20 (G20) meeting of developed and developing countries in London on April 2.