The European Commission should try to find extra savings to bridge a budget shortfall this year rather than turn to member states for extra cash, finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem told MPs in a briefing on Tuesday.

The Commission said last week it needed an extra  €11.2bn this year, most of which is destined for ‘cohesion projects’ in poorer EU regions.

Dijsselbloem said the Netherlands could not agree to the proposal. ‘The Commission has done nothing to try and find room within the [existing] budget,’ he said.

Dijsselbloem said he would work with other like-minded member states to try to find ‘an acceptable solution’. The Netherlands needs the support of other EU countries to stop the extra payment going ahead. Britain has also described it as ‘totally unacceptable’.