国际英语新闻：EU lawmakers approve 2011 budget after row

BRUSSELS, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) lawmakers on Wednesday approved 2011 budget for the 27-nation bloc, ending a row with EU member states over spending rise amid the debt crisis.

The total EU budget in 2011 would be 126.5 billion euros (169 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 2.91 percent over this year, as approved by the European Parliament at its plenary session in Strasbourg, France.

EU lawmakers had demanded a six-percent increase of the annual budget, arguing that new institutions, such as the EU's diplomatic service created by the Lisbon Treaty and new financial supervision watchdogs to be operational next year, would need more funding.

But it was rejected by EU member states which were struggling with a sovereign debt crisis and had been forced to cut their own spending to consolidate public finances.

Negotiations were deadlocked last month. A compromise was hammered out after the European Parliament bowed to the pressure of EU member states and agreed to cap the budget increase at 2.91 percent.

"It took us longer than expected but finally we got there," EU Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski said in a statement.

"The governments of our 27 member states and the European Parliament, by adopting the 2011 budget, have sent a strong signal to their citizens: Europe is far more about addressing concrete issues than inter institutional wrangling," he added.

Under the compromised budget, more funding would be given to youth, innovation, the Middle East peace process and Palestine, according to the European Parliament.

And it was agreed that should additional funds be necessary to fulfill the EU's legal obligations, there would be amending budgets during 2011.