EU budget talks end

The EU Budget discussions have ended with no agreement, as seemed inevitable after yesterday’s struggles and rows.

David Cameron has been copping a lot of flak for his intransigence, particularly from Francois Hollande, who has spent much of the time talking of the need for ‘solidarity’ with Europe – by which he means the Common Agricultural Policy. Despite these headlines, it’s worth remembering that plenty of other countries objected to Van Rompuy’s proposals, and for many different reasons. Indeed, far from being isolated, Britain may have forged closer relations with those countries thanks to the experience of these talks. Nicholas Watt reports that blame is being aimed squarely at Herman van Rompuy, which is an interesting development from the growing Eurosceptic/realist perspective.

The irony is, though, that the impasse may lead EU spending to increase as the spending limits rolls over, should agreement not be reached at later meetings.

More to follow.