Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown on Tuesday attacked as wasteful European Commission plans to increase the EU budget.
The EU executive wants to increase the budget to 1.24 per cent of EU gross national income by the end of the 2007-2013 period - a rise of 25 per cent.
The bloc is set for prolonged wrangling over the budget which the Commission says must be increased to take account of new needs due to EU enlargement and to boost investment in research and development.
Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria want the budget capped at one percent of GNI.
"I doubt whether the objectives of economic reform or fiscal sustainability are being served by the budget proposals of the Commission," Brown told reporters after meeting with fellow EU finance ministers.
He said that under the proposals some areas would see their spending go up by as much as 400 percent. "The Commission should reflect on this."
"The real problem the Commission has to address is expenditure. Additional expenditure on bureaucracy has got to be questioned," he said.
Brown also said that finance ministers had generally agreed that they had not done enough to deliver promised economic reforms, needed if Europe is to boost employment.
"There is a need for concrete action on labour flexibility," he said, adding that he had also pressed for a resumption of world trade talks and greater trade co-operation between the United States and Europe.
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