Britain needs to stump up an extra £2billion to stop the European Union running out of cash, MEPs have warned.
Brussels has already angered ministers by demanding an extra 11.2 billion euro (£9.3 billion) this year to plug a black hole in its budget - landing Britain with an extra £1.4 billion bill.
But MEPs have now warned that the true hole in the EU budget will hit 16.2 billion euro (£13.5 billion) this year - potentially landing the UK with a demand for another £2billion.
Pay up: Brussels has already angered ministers by demanding an extra 11.2 billion euro this year to plug a black hole in its budget
Members of the European Parliament’s powerful budget committee urged the European Commission to come clean about the true scale of the problem, rather than table further demands for cash later this year.
The comments came during a meeting with the Commission’s budget chief Janusz Lewandowski, who said Brussels would run out of money within months unless it received a cash injection from member states.
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Ivailo Kalfin, a socialist MEP and member of the Parliament’s negotiating team on the budget, said that ‘we all know that the 11 billion euro will not be enough’.
Dutch liberal Jan Mulder said 16 billion euro was a more realistic estimate of the final shortfall this year.
Committee chairman Alain Lamassoure has warned that the Commission could become ‘insolvent’ unless the full 16 billion euro gap is bridged as it is not possible to roll over the debt beyond the end of this year.
UK Treasury minister Greg Clark described last month's 11 billion euro demand as unacceptable
‘There is a threat that the EU will run out of funds before the end of 2013,’ he said. ‘This is forbidden by the treaties and the Parliament will not accept a deficit.’
Tory MEP Marta Andreasen said Britain should not give a penny more to Brussels, which was given an extra 3 billion euro at the end of last year to help it pay its bills.
Miss Andreasen, the Commission’s former chief accountant, said the constant demands for more cash were damaging the ‘credibility’ of Brussels.
‘The problem is that the Commission comes up with different amounts all the time. They are always asking for more.
‘They must understand that it is going to be very difficult for them to get an extra 11 billion - to ask for 16 billion would be madness.
‘It is ridiculous - we should not give them any more. If they don’t have any money left then they should stop signing off projects. Many of the member states have financial problems of their own - they cannot afford to bail out the Commission just because it can’t stop spending.’
UK Treasury minister Greg Clark described last month’s 11 billion euro demand as ‘totally unacceptable’.
Government sources have indicated they will seek to block any significant increase in the Commission’s budget this year.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister and chairman of the Eurogroup, has also called on the Commission to cover the shortfall by making savings.
He also accused the EU of having ‘made no effort whatsoever to find the space (for savings) elsewhere in the budget.’
But Pawel Swidlicki, of the think tank Open Europe, said it was unclear whether Britain would be able to find enough allies to block the budget increase, which will be decided by a majority vote.
He warned the European Parliament could also hold Britain and others to ransom by refusing to sign off the long-term budget negotiated by david Cameron unless more cash is provided this year.