Internal wrangles risk leaving EU without 2011 budget

Tough negotiations between EU institutions could leave the bloc without a formal budget next year, as newly empowered MEPs seek to use their ability to sanction the annual budget in order to extract their more longer-term wishes from member states.

This was the concern expressed by one senior Belgian official at an off-the-record briefing on Monday (28 June), as the outgoing government prepares to take over the EU's rotating presidency this week at an interesting juncture regarding fut...