The UK Presidency of the European Union has encouraged the stench of failure, as politicians play the traditional game of scapegoating for failing to agree a budget. The European countries have been unable to agree on a budget as the Common Agricultural Policy is considered untouchable and Britain is unwilling to give up its rebate. Blair has come under increasing criticism from Europe for not seeking consensus on the budget.
The in-house European journal, the FT, has stated that the latest draft will leave CAP alone and reduce structural funds, especially to the 'Enlargement 10'. Blair will shuttle across Europe selling his proposal as an alternative to the compromise crafted by Luxembourg. Needless to say he has come under criticism from many quarters. Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg Prime Minister, stated that the EU was in "deep crisis" and that the only way forward was to reduce the UK's rebate.
Ireland, lining up with France to avoid reform of CAP, has supported the Luxembourg proposal and set out a timeline for reform: renegotiate the CAP from 2010 for implementation from 2013 when the rebate would also be phased out. Ahern accused the British government of "intransigence" for not supporting the right of Irish farmers to be subsidised.
Even the Commission is publicly exasperated and has accused Britain of "creative accounting". Given the past record of the Blair administration, there would be some ballast to their complaint, if they didn't have a poor record to defend themselves.
For 20 years, Britain had accepted the principle that customs receipts were part of the EU's direct revenues and did not count as national payments to Brussels.
"Now, the British Treasury integrates that and inflates its payments in an extraordinary way," Grybauskaite said.
Similarly, Britain displayed "statistical creativity" by using the figures for budget commitments, not all of which are spent in any given year, rather than actual payments to make its net contribution appear bigger than it really was.
A British spokesman acknowledged differences between the figures which the government reports to parliament and those published officially by the executive European Commission, but he said that was nothing new.
"The UK has not suddenly come up with a new method of calculation. We have been using the same accounting method to report to parliament ever since we have been a member," he said.
"I am surprised by these remarks because we can simply work with the two sets of figures if we work in good faith together."
The lower the chances of agreement, the greater the probability that the EU will return to annual budgets with all the gridlock that entails.