European Union leaders have agreed to seek a global deal for bankers' bonuses to be clawed back if profits fall.

欧盟首领同意为银行家在利润下降时追回红利寻求全球合作。

European leaders were deciding what message to send to the G20 Summit

The leaders meeting in Brussels approved the clause（分句，条款） as part of a common EU position for next week's G20 summit in Pittsburgh in the US.

They want the threat of sanctions to be used to force banks to link bonuses to long-term performance.

There is concern the current system may encourage short-term risk-taking, which helped trigger the banking¹ crisis.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there was broad backing for bonus restrictions².

'Appalled³'

"I believe that people have been appalled（胆寒，惊骇） by the suggestion in some institutions and their practices that they simply want to return to the policies of the past," Mr Brown said.

"There is no support in any part of the world for failing to take the action that is necessary and I believe that we will be able to agree on a structure for how bonuses should be examined in the future."

But the US and UK have rejected calls for mandatory⁴（命令的，强制性的） caps on bonuses.

"The G20 should commit to agreeing to binding⁵ rules for financial institutions on variable（可变的，易变的） remunerations（报酬） backed up by the threat of sanctions at the national level," said the agreed statement.

The EU leaders will also urge the G20 nations to maintain stimulus⁶ spending that has prompted some signs of global recovery.

Deadlock⁷

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has led the charge against high levels of banker pay, has threatened to walk out of the conference if no stringent⁸（迫切的，严厉的） compensation rules are passed.

"The bonus bubble burst tonight," said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the EU presidency⁹.

"We have agreed to say that enough is enough and we need to move away from the current culture of compensation based on short-term performance."

But US President Barack Obama has repeatedly said he is against being over-prescriptive on pay.

"The president has been pretty clear that he supports a robust¹⁰（强壮的，强健的） approach to executive compensation but has been reluctant to sort of set individual compensation levels," said Mike Froman, deputy national security advisor¹¹ for international economic affairs.

Mr Froman said the G20 was most likely to agree a "set of principles" on bonuses.

The UK, Germany, France and Italy are the only official members of the EU in the G20 - which brings together developed and emerging economies.

The EU itself is the 20th member, though Spain and the Netherlands will sit in on the talks.