BRUSSELS, Nov. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- European Union (EU) foreign ministers on Monday reopened the budget debate after a four-month pause but failed to break ice on financing the 25-nation's bloc from the year of 2007 to 2013.

    UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who is chairing the monthly foreign ministers meeting, said that the UK government still wants to push for a deal at a mid-December EU summit.

    "I cannot say whether in the middle of December we will or will not reach a deal, but it certainly will not be for want of trying,"Straw told a press conference.

    Jack Straw also said that London is willing to discuss its EU rebate but only as part of a wider reform of the Union's finances.Britain, currently at the helm of the EU, has been under huge pressure from other member states to give up the 4.6 billion euros(5.5 billion dollars) a year rebate from the common coffers.

    He said the rebate was an "anomaly" but described it as an "anomaly of an anomaly", because the whole budget was "skewed" towards agricultural spending.

    The EU budget is worth 106.3 billion euros (125 billion US dollars) this year, of which 46 percent goes on agriculture. France is the biggest beneficiary of the Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

    At the EU summit in June, the UK was one of only a handful of countries which objected to a compromise budget deal proposed by then EU president Luxembourg. The UK, however, still refuses to accept the Luxembourg's proposal as the basis for a future deal.

    "Significant changes in both the level of the overall spending and in the structure of its financing will be necessary, compared with what was on the table in June, if there is to be a deal in December," Straw said.

    Many analysts now believe that the budget deal would not be reached until next year. A postponement of the budget deal could lead to significant losses for the poorer new member states. Enditem