The leaders of France and Germany have downplayed expectations that a deal will be reached this week on the EU budget for 2014-2020.
"We will do everything to find an agreement at the next summit, but conditions are not there yet," French President Francois Hollande told reporters on Sunday (3 February) alongside Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.
Monti, who visited Paris after a stop in Berlin earlier in the week, repeated his calls for a "fairer" deal, as his country is paying more into the common pot without having rebates like other big donors such as the UK or Germany.
Hollande's pessimism came just one day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel also cast doubt whether the bloc's 27 leaders will be able to agree on the €1 trillion budget on Thursday and Friday.
EU agriculture commissioner Dacian Ciolos told Der Spiegel he is "surprised" at the "almost ideological opposition" of the German government against plans to make subsidies more directly linked to environmental measures.
Ciolos also said that despite Berlin's calls for "smart spending", the German government is opposing a cap on how much large companies can receive from the EU farm aid pot.
Read more: EUobserver.com / Economic Affairs / France and Germany cast doubt on EU budget deal
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