He had one job….

No sooner had Irish deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore [above] released a statement saying that negotiations had been “concluded” were MEPs rushing to twitter and their press offices to denounce what they saw as an attempt to steamroller them into a deal.

Austrian socialist MEP Hannes Swoboda referred to “blackmail” by the EU presidency, representing member states, and said there had not been enough progress on one of the MEPs’ key demands – flexibility to allow unspent money to be used elsewhere rather than flowing back to member states.

Guy Verhofstadt, a Belgian liberal MEP, said “there is still no agreement” and criticized the scope of the proposed budget revision clause, saying parliament does not want to be locked into a “straitjacket.”

Negotiations were carried out with the Irish presidency and the parliament’s main budget MEPs, including the lead negotiator Alain Lamassoure, a French centre-right deputy.

Deal on EU budget in doubt (EU Observer)