EU overrides objections to agree €135.5bn budget for 2014 The EU overrode objections of four northern countries, including the UK, to agree a new €135.5bn budget for next year, with holdouts complaining that even Brussels" reduced spending plans were too big in a time of economic austerity. The new 2014 budget, brokered between national ministers and European parliament leaders in the early morning hours Tuesday, cuts Brussels spending by about 6 per cent this year and was below levels requested by both the European Commission and the European parliament. Yet British officials said the cuts were still insufficient. "Where governments and individuals across Europe are making the necessary savings, it would be wrong and irresponsible for the EU to not be showing similar restraint," Nicky Morgan, the UK economic secretary, said in a statement. It is right for us to have taken a tough stance on spending. Although the budget differences were over a comparatively small amount - about €1bn separated the two sides - the British-led objections were more focused on the flexibility given to EU institutions to shift money around to meet their own spending priorities, one EU official said. The 2014 spending plan, agreed after more than 16 hours of negotiations, is the first in the EU's new seven-year budget framework, under which the European Parliament is expected to get new discretionary powers to move cash around within budget headings. Britain's opposition was joined by three other "net contributor" nations who put more into the EU budget than they get out - Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. Yet they failed to muster sufficient support to block the budget. In particular, the budget hawks were opposed by Germany, which has been the UK's most important ally in recent months in keeping a lid on EU spending. Reaching an agreement this year was "even more complex due to the post-crisis or crisis environment in Europe," said Janusz Lewandowski, the EU budget commissioner. The commission had originally proposed a budget of €136bn for next year, while the parliament asked for an increase to €136.4bn. The agreement also added €400m to the final stretch of the 2013 budget, aimed at repairing damages caused by floods in Germany, Austria, Romania and the Czech Republic. "The beauty of a compromise is that no one is totally happy," Mr Lewandowski said, adding that he believed the new budget drew on lessons of under-budgeting in the past. Anne Jensen, Danish liberal and an MEP steering the 2014 budget through parliament, labelled the outcome as "an austerity budget," due to the 6 per cent reduction. "But I am glad we managed to secure more funds for growth policies for research, education and innovation and for humanitarian aid in the Middle East," Ms Jensen added.