EU budget battle endgame looms

Budget battles over future Brussels spending from 2007 to 2013 are entering the endgame ahead of an EU summit next month.

The Luxembourg EU presidency is set to table a compromise plan over the weekend following intense negotiations among Brussels diplomats.

Cash cuts will be made to original European Commission proposals with spending on EU competitiveness slashed by €50 billion.

The axe is also to be taken to regional spending targeted at the EU’s poorest areas – a €40bn cut will be shared between ‘new’ and ‘old’ Europe.

Britain's EU cash rebate will be preserved but capped at around €4.5bn annually according to the Luxembourg plan, reports FT Europe.

But the compromise will not bring projected expenditure below one per cent of GDP as demanded by the EU's largest budget contributors.

Europe’s biggest per capita cash giver, the Netherlands has threatened to veto the EU budget proposals Dutch contributions are cut.

Dutch citizens pay €180 per person per year to EU coffers compared to €95 in Sweden and €71 in Germany.

The clock is ticking on a June 16 rendez-vous of EU leaders in Brussels, failure to agree could plunge Europe into a cash crisis.

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