David Cameron: Eurocrats must accept cuts to pay and perks The Prime Minister said the EU's current proposals for spending cuts "do not go far enough," after a meeting this morning with Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, and José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission. He also made it clear to the Brussels officials that Britain would not accept any reduction to its £3 billion a year rebate negotiated by Margaret Thatcher to compensate for France's agricultural subsidies. Diplomats said the key issue for the summit is reconciling Mr Cameron's insistence that the rebate remain unchanged with the French demand to preserve the CAP. One possible compromise would effectively see money taken from both EU's administration budget and the "Connecting Europe" fund which is meant to pay for new telecoms, transport and energy networks. The European Commission's administration budget for 2014 - 2020 is currently due to rise from Euro 56 billion to Euro 62.6 billion. In Brussels, Britain is pushing for a smaller increase in Commission spending, suggesting that savings could be found by reducing the perks of EU staff. Mr Cameron is understood to have strong support from Germany and the Netherlands for cutting bureaucrats' pay and allowances. A particular target could be the "expat allowance" paid to non-Belgian staff based in Brussels. It adds 16 per cent to their tax free salaries, and is estimated to cost European taxpayers up to Euro 2 billion. British official also suggested that cuts could be found in the Connecting Europe fund, which is is due to rise from Euro 8 billion to Euro 36 billion. British officials suggested that at least Euro 20 billion of that planned increase could be cut. Cutting the fund could cause a backlash from Baltic states and Finland. It could also prompt accusations that the EU is choosing to spend money cosseting uncompetitive French farmers instead of investing in the infrastructure that could help the European economy compete in the 21st century. Elio Di Rupo, the Belgian Prime Minister, used his arrival to attack Mr Cameron for his cuts calls. "We want an ambitious European budget," he said. However, after his first meeting this morning with Mr Van Rompuy and Mr Barroso, the Prime Minister's office said the current proposals for cutting spending do not go far enough. "The Prime Minister set out our position that while the latest proposals were a step in the right direction they did not go far enough and that we think more can be done to rein in spending," a Downing Street spokesman said. As the Prime Minister said this morning, we are going to be negotiating very hard for a good deal for Britain's taxpayers and Europe's taxpayers and to keep the British rebate. Mr Van Rompuy is proposing a deal that would cut the overall budget, but reduce the value of Britain's annual rebate. However, the Prime Minister has rejected this idea and said it is "quite wrong" for the European Commission to propose increased Brussels budgets at a time of national austerity. Speaking as he arrived in Brussels this morning, the Prime Minister said: "These are very important negotiations. Clearly at a time when we are making difficult decisions at home over public spending it would be quite wrong - it is quite wrong - for there to be proposals for this increased extra spending in the EU. The Prime Minister has promised to fight "incredibly hard" to protect the rebate worth £3 billion a year to the UK. Last night Grant Shapps, the Tory Party chairman said increases in Britain's contributions to the European Union would be "unacceptable."