The European Parliament warned yesterday there was no way it would approve the latest EU budget proposals by the UK presidency.

The president of the EU's legislative assembly, Josep Borell, said the UK proposal differs radically from the position adopted by the European Parliament at its plenary session.

"I do not think Parliament will be able to accept it. Member states are advised not to waste too much time on a proposal which has no chance of working. If the Commission and Parliament see this agreement as unacceptable, then it is still-born."

The same position was expressed by the EP's rapporteur on financial perspectives, Reimer Boege, who added that a failure of the budget negotiations at next week's EU summit would not result in a budget crisis.

Parliament reached its position on the next financial perspectives last June, with the adoption of a report by Mr Boege which sets out a total of €974 billion in commitment appropriations for 2007-2013. The British presidency's compromise proposal sets the limit at €847 billion.

The European Parliament will deal with this issue during its plenary session meeting in Strasbourg next week where more criticism of the UK proposals is expected just a few hours before the EU summit.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.