At first sight, this is another squabble about the EU budget – except that this is not about the budget – the one that that nice Mr Cameron is getting worked up about. No, this is not about the multi-annual budget negotiations. It's about the annual budgets (plural) for 2012 and 2013.

The BBC piece tells us that the EU parliament and the council are having difficulty in establishing an "agreed position", where the EU commission is after another €9 billion (approx) in "emergency funding" to add to the already agreed €129.1 billion for 2012.

The problem here is that this brings the 2013 budget up to just over €137 billion – representing a 6.8 percent increase on the previous year. That is all fine and dandy except that the Council has already decided on its "common position" and it has gone for €132 bullion – a 2.79 percent increase.

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Typo towards the bottom - "...the consiliation procedure must be concluded by Tuesday...."

Moderators - please delete.

So you mean those accountable to an electorate are wanting lower spending than those that are not...quelle surprise.This is all indeed good news as it puts the EU in a bad light to the general public,another nail in the coffin........fingers crossed.