Spain is building a coalition of countries that would oppose plans to freeze spending in the European Union's next long-term budget in 2007-2013, diplomats said today.
A diplomat said the Spanish ambassador to the EU had hosted a dinner in Brussels on Sunday for senior officials from Portugal, Greece and 10 others, mostly east European, countries that joined the bloc in May.
"The meeting was aimed at finding support for a bigger EU budget. It was an initial meeting of an informal nature," the diplomat said.
The gathering was to create a joint front in support of proposals by the EU 's executive Commission to increase the Union's budget to 1.14 percent of gross national income or about 1 trillion euros in 2007-2013.
EU foreign ministers are to debate the issue today, but a final decision is not expected before the end of 2005.
The Commission argues that a bigger budget is needed to finance enlargement without denying aid funds to countries which have so far received the bulk of EU assistance - Greece, Spain and Portugal.
The plan is staunchly opposed by the EU 's six biggest net contributors - Austria, Britain, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden - who are demanding spending be capped at the current 1 per cent of GNI, or just over €100 billion ($130.3 billion) annually.
They say expenditures must not grow much at a time when many countries are struggling to tame their budget deficits.
Some analysts say that Spain could be among biggest losers in the EU 's next long-term budget.
This is because EU net contributors want to cut EU aid for the bloc's "old" members such as Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal, while switching the focus of assistance to the newcomers, whose economies were devastated by decades of communist rule.