Talks on next year’s EU budget ended in deadlock early today after Britain led a group of countries refusing to offer MEPs a bigger say in future spending priorities.

Talks on next year's EU budget hit deadlock tonight after Europe's governments gave MEPs a "take it or leave it" ultimatum.

The European Commission is proposing to cut a further €3.6bn from the Budget for 2011.

Tony Blair appeared set to surrender more of Britain’s European Union rebate tonight in a bid to resolve the budget crisis.

Tony Blair will today present fresh proposals aimed at ending the European Union budget crisis.

Tony Blair begins the tough talking in Brussels today as he battles to salvage a European Union budget deal and the British presidency.

A European Union budget deal “hangs very much in the balance”, Prime Minister Tony Blair said today as he arrived in Brussels for a crunch summit.

Tony Blair flies to Brussels later today, battling to broker a European budget deal and end his EU presidency in triumph.

Global trade talks remained deadlocked in Hong Kong today after leading delegates meeting late into the night failed to reach agreement on setting a date for ending export subsidies on farm goods – again blaming European countries for blocking progress.

It was the European Union versus the rest of the world as global trade talks remained deadlocked today, with the EU defending itself from a barrage of criticism that its refusal to further open its farming markets threatened to torpedo the entire World Trade Organisation meeting.

Hundreds of South Korean protesters who have been scuffling with police at a WTO meeting in Hong Kong switched to peaceful Buddhist tactics today, repeatedly kneeling and kowtowing as they marched to the convention centre where the trade talks are being held.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is due to lead an Irish delegation to Brussels today for negotiations on the next EU budget.

The EU budget summit in Brussels is the last chance to shake up European farm spending for a decade, Oxfam warned.

The EU’s top trade negotiator today told EU governments not to panic over world trade talks, saying they would make a “terrible mistake” if they softened Europe’s stance on farm and other subsidies now.

Representatives of European farmers will today urge EU officials to maintain generous agricultural subsidies and keep regulating the supply of agricultural products to guarantee price stability.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expects his fellow European leaders to show flexibility on the EU’s future budget and live up to “the significance of the situation” at this week’s summit, a spokesman for the German leader said today.

Britain should play “its full role” in the financing of an enlarged European Union, President Jacques Chirac told his cabinet today, according to government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker today said cuts to agricultural handouts will be on the table at this week’s European Union summit talks.