Big regions in Spain and Italy as well as Slovenia stand to lose billions of euros in European Union aid unless EU leaders agree on the bloc's long-term budget this year, the European Commission warned on Wednesday. Negotiations on the EU's 2007-2013 budget broke down at a summit on June 17, mainly due to a row between Britain and France over attempts to link curbs on London's disputed rebate from Brussels coffers to future farm spending levels, according to Reuters. Politicians doubt whether Britain will be able to steer the EU towards a budget agreement during its six-month presidency which started on Friday, because it cannot easily act as an honest broker on its own rebate. Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Huebner said failure to achieve a deal this year could hit financially not only the EU's ex-communist newcomers, as has been long known, but also major regions in Spain, Italy, Greece and possibly eastern Germany. Slovenia, the richest ex-communist new member state, might lose its right to much of the EU's so-called structural funds if agreement is only clinched at the end of Austria's presidency over the bloc next June, as many diplomats expect. Those regions are likely to exceed the eligibility threshold for the main structural fund, which is gross domestic product per head of less than 75 percent of the EU average. --More 2013 Local Time 1713 GMT
