LONDON, Nov 28: The British presidency of the EU hinted on Monday that it would propose a cut in the budget for the 25-member bloc in order to reach a spending agreement at the EU’s December summit in Brussels. The signal preceded a swing through the capitals of some of the EU’s newest member states this week by Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is under pressure to abandon Britain’s jealously-guarded EU budget rebate.

“We’ve already said our position hasn’t changed on the EU budget. We made it clear that the proposed budget that came out of Luxembourg (in June) was too big,” a spokeswoman for Blair told AFP.

“That is not a new position,” she said, refusing to enter into details about the figures Britain will put to its European partners on Dec 5 — 10 days before an EU summit in Brussels.—AFP