The new German government braced itself for its first major row in Europe last night after Mr Jacques Santer, the European Commission President, said that Germany could not expect any change in its status as the EU paymaster.
Mr Santer also called the British rebate from the Brussels budget into question and said it should be renegotiated within six months.
Bonn is bridling at being by far the biggest net contributor to the Brussels budget, supplying 60 per cent, and Mr Gerhard Schroder has signalled that when Germany takes over the EU presidency in January, he intends to push for a "fairer" Brussels budget.
But in an interview with the German press, Mr Santer said it was difficult to see how Germany could lower its transfers to Brussels and also courted stiff German opposition by suggesting that the EU budget may need to be increased to finance the union's expansion to eastern Europe.
The outgoing Kohl government has been campaigning loudly for a lessening of the German contributions to the Brussels kitty.
Mr Schroder's team is already drafting a strategy for EU budget reform, and the early signs are that it wants root-and-branch reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and changes in the way Brussels spends its money.