New European Commission President Mr Jose Manuel Barroso warned new member states today against trying to remove a limit on aid to the European Union's poorest regions.
After talks with Slovak President Mr Ivan Gasparovic, Barroso was asked about calls from some of the poor, east European countries that joined the bloc in May to lift the ceiling of 4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product on EU structural funds in the 2007-2013 budget.
The funds go towards major infrastructure projects such as building roads, rail links, bridges, schools and hospitals.
New European Commission President Mr Jose Manuel Barroso
Mr Barroso said he stood by the budget proposals put forward by former Commission President Romano Prodi last July, which respected the long-standing 4 per cent cap.
"I don't think it is wise at this stage, and certainly not in the interest of the new member states, to separate different aspects of the proposal put forward by the previous Commission," he told reporters.
Six net contributors to the EU budget - Germany, Britain, France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark - have demanded the EU cap overall spending for the next seven years at the current level of 1 per cent of the bloc's gross national income rather than the 1.14 per cent proposed by the Commission.
Mr Barroso said negotiations had not really begun in earnest and it would be risky to start unpicking the package.
The carve-up of regional aid between old and new EU members is likely to be a major battleground in the budget negotiations, expected to continue until late 2005 or early 2006.
EU officials say there are sound reasons for the 4 per cent rule, even though it means that poor countries such as Poland, Slovakia and Lithuania receive far less per capita than better-off states such as Spain, Greece and Portugal.
World Bank and International Monetary Fund studies show countries are unable to absorb and administer aid inflows representing a larger proportion of their GDP, officials argue.