EU 2013 budget talks fail

Talks on the EU 2013 budget collapsed in acrimony on Friday, denting hopes of a swift deal later this month on the bigger issue of the bloc's long-term spending for 2014-2020.

Negotiators for EU governments and the European Parliament walked out without even discussing next year's spending blueprint, after eight hours spent squabbling over a request for €9 billion in extra cash to fill a funding gap in 2012.

The EU Commission and European Parliament had asked for a budget rise of 6.8% in 2013.

But most governments wanted to limit the rise to just 2.8%.

The failure of the talks will dent hopes of agreement on the 2014-2020 budget, which is up for discussion later this month, correspondents say.

Friday's dispute was over an extra €9 billion in "emergency funding" for 2012, to cover budgets for education, infrastructure and research projects.

Sources in the meeting said the talks ultimately failed because lawmakers from the European Parliament refused to discuss the 2013 budget before an agreement on the extra funds for 2012, while governments wanted to negotiate both as a package.

Germany, France and other governments questioned the funding, and eight hours of talks produced no agreement.

"Under these conditions, we felt that negotiations which hadn't really begun by six o'clock in the evening couldn't reasonably be expected to finish during the night," said the parliament's lead negotiator, Alain Lamassoure.

At the European parliament, UK Conservative MEPs clashed with Parliament President Martin Schulz, a German Social Democrat, over the extra €9 billion shortfall for 2012.

In 2012 the budget was €129.1 billion, a 1.9% increase on 2011.

Among the schemes facing a shortfall this year is the Erasmus student exchange programme.

It has allowed nearly three million young Europeans to study abroad since it was launched 25 years ago.

In an open letter to EU leaders on Friday more than 100 famous Europeans, including film directors and footballers, warned that "thousands could miss out on a potentially life-changing experience".

Friday's talks did produce a declaration of political will to provide €670 million to earthquake victims in Italy, but no agreement on how to finance it, the European Parliament said.

It said that if no agreement on the 2013 budget could be reached in the next 21 days, the European Commission would look to revise its budget proposal.

An EU summit aimed at reaching a deal on that budget will be held on 22-23 November.