The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has told his EU counterparts that agricultural subsidies must remain at the level agreed two years ago for the next budget period from 2007 to 2013. He said that, if rich countries continued to receive structural funds for their poor regions, the BMW region should continue to be funded too.

"We are open to discussions about how the structural funds might operate in the richer member-states. If the structural funds continue to operate in the wealthier member-states, Ireland would need to have a solution for its poorest region which is in keeping with its development needs," he said.

Mr McCreevy was outlining Ireland's position on the budget plan - called financial perspectives - at a meeting of EU finance ministers in the Dutch seaside town of Scheveningen.

The commission, along with most of the EU's poorer countries, wants a budget that would represent 1.14 per cent of the EU's GDP. The richer countries that pay most of the EU's bill want the budget capped at 1 per cent of GDP.

Mr McCreevy did not offer Ireland's backing to either position but said that budgetary discipline was as important at the European level as it was for national governments.

"For all countries, whether net beneficiaries or net contributors, the EU budget competes directly with domestic expenditure priorities for available resources.

"For that reason, the considerations regarding value for money and the need to make choices which apply at the national level should also apply at EU level," he said.

The Minister, who is attending his last such meeting as a finance minister, told his colleagues that they could not afford to decide on new policy commitments without regard for their financing implications.

"That said, I would like to make absolutely clear our support for substantial and meaningful funding for the new member-states so that their developmental requirements can be met," he said.

The ministers will today discuss a proposal from the commission to agree a common set of rules for the levying of corporate tax.

Although the proposal does not involve the harmonisation of tax rates, Mr McCreevy said that Ireland opposed it. "We don't want harmonised tax rates by the back door either," he said.

The French finance minister, Mr Nicolas Sarkozy, repeated his call for countries that charge low corporate-tax rates to have their EU subsidies cut.

He said that it was difficult to explain to French taxpayers why they should subsidise countries in central and eastern Europe that can afford to cut corporate tax to zero per cent.

"These countries saw what happened with Ireland and they are saying, 'why shouldn't we do the same thing?' The trouble is that it makes rather a lot of them [doing it\]," Mr Sarkozy said.

Mr McCreevy dismissed Mr Sarkozy's remarks as political campaigning and played down the significance of low tax rates in boosting economic growth.

"You won't have economic success solely by taxation," he said.