One week before heads of state and government are to convene a special summit in Brussels to discuss the 2014-2020 budget, Council President Herman Van Rompuy tabled a €950-billion proposal that is €75 billion less than the Commission's initial recommendation.

The proposal severe cuts are foreseen in agriculture, which may anger France, and in cohesion, which would certainly antagonise the new EU members from Central and Eastern Europe, EurActiv reported.

The proposal foresees keeping the UK rebate, but introduces a new system under which the country would pay partly for its own refund.

“We do not accept the proposal to reduce by €25 billion the money for the Common Agricultural Policy, which we consider a policy for growth,” Bernard Cazeneuve, France's European affairs minister, told his country’s parliament yesterday.

On the other extreme, Sweden asked for more cuts. “The revised proposal means some small steps in the right direction but it's not enough,” Swedish EU Minister Birgitta Ohlsson said, adding: “We need a clear model for reducing agriculture subsidies.”