European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso today criticised the EU budget proposal put forward by EU president Luxembourg.
"I am very disappointed with the proposal as it is now," he told reporters. Luxembourg has proposed trimming the 25-nation bloc's overall spending level and cutting payments to the budget by Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden.
Luxembourg, which holds the presidency until June, hopes to broker a deal at the bloc's summit on June 16th-17th, although many diplomats doubt they will meet the deadline.
"There will be a compromise at the end, but it has to be more ambitious than it is now," Mr Barroso said.
He said the EU would not be able to fulfil its aims of spending on the regions and on international aid if the current budget proposal went ahead. Referring to the
row over Britain's budget rebate, Mr Barroso said he thought Britons would understand circumstances had changed and it was not fair for newcomers such as Bulgaria and Romania to be paying more than Britain.
"When the UK got its rebate there were good reasons. The situation has changed. Britain is much more prosperous that it was 20 years ago and the EU has changed," he said.
"I believe a good solution can be found if there is goodwill on all sides," he added.
Bulgaria and Romania are in the pipeline to join the EU. On Thursday, the European Union proposed scaling down Britain's contested rebate as part of a deal in a row over the bloc's 2007-2013 budget.
Luxembourg's plan, which would freeze Britain's rebate in 2007 and gradually reduce it from 2008, looks set to be rejected by London unless the EU agreed on concessions, such as cutting the bloc's costly farm subsidies, say diplomats.