ROME: Italy and France on Thursday called for a transparent system for European Union budget rebates amid a widening row over the EU's 2014-2020 budget ahead of a summit of EU leaders this month.
"We are calling for a single, transparent system that would allow any country meeting certain criteria to ask for compensation," European Minister Enzo Moavero said after talks with his French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve.
Moavero said the prospect of EU leaders reaching an agreement at the summit in Brussels on November 22 and 23 "is not easy... but not impossible".
Cazeneuve called for greater "solidarity" within the European Union, saying: "We want the European Union's resources to be allocated in a balanced, transparent and fair way. That is why we want changes on compensations."
Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria have all negotiated rebates because they felt they were contributing too much to the budget.
Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt has warned she will veto the EU's 2014-2020 budget proposal if Denmark does not receive a rebate.
France and Italy are the second and third biggest net contributors to the EU budget.
The upcoming budget negotiations are likely to be particularly arduous because of resistance to increases in the EU budget as European citizens feel the pinch of austerity.
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