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The European Commission has warned that it is running out of money again, in the latest standoff between the EU institutions over its unpaid bills. The EU executive says that the bloc’s budget faces payment gaps worth €4.7 billion covering research and employment programs, cohesion policy, and costs arising from the refugee crisis in Ukraine and Syria. An autumn cash flow crisis for the commission has become a perennial fixture in the EU calendar.After repeatedly warnings from the EU executive that flagship programs such as the Erasmus student exchange scheme and the European Social Fund were within weeks of running...

EU negotiators are on the brink of formally concluding a €960 billion ($1.27 trillion) deal on the next seven year EU budget, after a tentative deal between national ministers and MEPs. Irish deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore, who led the talks in Brussels on Wednesday (19 June), told reporters that he and Alain Lamassoure, the French center-right deputy leading the parliament team, agreed to compromises on the four main EU parliament concerns. “It’s a very good day for Europe,” said Gilmore. “This budget is not about the institutions, but a robust budget for jobs to be created,” he added. …

The leaders of the European Parliament are threatening to veto the bloc’s multi-annual budget because of its deep cuts. The Christian Democratic EPP, the largest group in the legislature, said the 7-year budget worth €960 billion ($1.28 trillion) must be revised to realistically reflect the EU’s growing competences and responsibilities. …

Germany has raised the pressure on British Prime Minister David Cameron to seek an agreement on the EU’s long-term budget at a summit in Brussels today (23 November), by floating an alternative deal that would sideline Britain and neutralize its veto. … If confirmed today, the “Plan B” would work in two steps. First, EU leaders, recognizing the impossibility of finding an agreement at 27, would issue a statement at today’s meeting saying budget talks will resume in January 2013, at another summit.In the meantime, they would reach a political agreement on the bloc’s long-term finances—without the UK—and confirm it...

David Cameron brandished a list of the “outrageous” pay and perks of tens of thousands of Eurocrats last night as he clashed with EU leaders over British demands for cuts to Brussels’ vast budget. The Prime Minister insisted tens of billions of pounds could easily be slashed from the EU’s spending plans for the next seven years. He highlighted the Brussels gravy train, a new EU diplomatic service and infrastructure investment as key targets. … The Commission wants to increase its budget by 350 percent—from £6.5 billion ($10.4 billion) to £29 billion ($46 billion). Britain said that, at most, it...

European Union officials are examining legal options to side-step a possible British veto on the bloc’s long-term budget, in a bid to weaken Prime Minister David Cameron's trump card in the talks, diplomats said. Britain is one of several net contributors including Germany and France demanding deep reductions to EU spending plans worth more than €1 trillion between 2014-2020, which they say are at stark odds with austerity-driven spending cuts at home. Under pressure from Euroskeptics in his own party to deliver a real terms cut, officials believe Cameron is the most likely to make good on a threat to...

British Prime Minister David Cameron suffered an important defeat in parliament on Wednesday (31 October) when opposition Labour party MPs sided with euroskeptics in his own Conservative party to demand a reduction in the EU budget.MPs voted by 307 to 294 in favor of a Tory-rebel amendment calling for the 2014-2020 EU budget to be “reduced in real terms.” Ahead of the vote, Cameron portrayed himself as tough on Brussels but left wiggle room to agree to an EU budget increase in line with 2 percent inflation. …

David Cameron has vowed to get "tough" with Europe, as he threatened to veto the EU budget unless it sacks staff and cuts the pay of 4,000 officials on six-figure salaries. The Prime Minister said he is proud of his "pretty outspoken" reputation among European leaders and stands ready to block any new spending plans that fail to tackle Brussels waste. Speaking after a two-day summit, Mr. Cameron directly challenged the EU to take "more rigorous" action to cut costs or face another veto from the UK. … Mr. Cameron said his "favorite" fact about Brussels overspending is that 16...

The European Union summit has broken up with a deal on the constitution that means different things to different leaders, and no agreement on the EU's budget at all. Even the summit's Europhilic chairman, Jean-Claude Juncker, admitted that Europe has slipped into a “deep crisis”. EUROPEAN UNION leaders, arriving in Brussels on Thursday June 16th for a summit meeting, agreed on one key point: with the EU in crisis, the leaders of its 25 member states badly needed to show that the Union can still work. If that was the mission, the summit backfired spectacularly. Around midnight on Friday, the...