Britain will not accept EU proposals to give the European Commission advance sight of its Budget before it is presented to Parliament, Foreign Secretary William Hague said.
It emerged last week that Treasury officials have discussed proposals from Brussels for a "peer review" of draft budgets by the Commission and EU finance ministers, drawn up in response to the financial crisis in countries like Greece.
The idea is expected to be raised at David Cameron's first European Council summit as Prime Minister in Brussels on Thursday, though Mr Hague stressed that it was still in early "embryonic" form and no final decision was expected this week.
The Foreign Secretary told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: "It is not a proposal that we can support. The Prime Minister, Chancellor and I have all made that very clear.
"The British Budget must be presented to the British Parliament. That is a position we will argue for and we will maintain.
"The discussions on this have some way to go but our position is pretty categorical.
"Our position will be pretty trenchant, that the national budget of this country can only be presented, the draft budget can only be presented, initially to the British Parliament."
Read More
MORE ABOUT