The
European Commission is demanding an increase in its annual spending of 5.95% - despite the fact most member states are making savage cuts.
The Council of Europe - the EU's Heads of State - wants to limit spending to 2.9% but so far their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
A spokesman for the Commission, Patrizio Fiorilli, says the rise is necessary and most of the money will be ploughed back into member states to ensure growth during a difficult economic cycle.
"Most of the increase we called for is not money that stays in Brussels because it goes to research, enterprise and infrastructure and energy projects. It's not money for Brussels, it's money for 500 million Europeans."
The EU says much of the money trickles down to member states but eurosceptics claim the EU wastes an enormous amount of cash.
Part of the rise, for instance, will pay for an 85% increase to MEPs' entertainment budget.
UKIP MEP Nigel Farage says the budget request is "monstrous".
"So much of this spending is excess. So much of it is entertaining. So much of it is supporting the personal lives of the people running the European Union and even though the Lisbon Treaty gives the EU more power there must be an argument for cost-cutting and saving somewhere."
The response from avowed eurosceptics is predictable but many of Europe's hundreds of millions of taxpayers are also aggrieved.
Francine Wooters, 59, is a grandmother-of-three from Brussels who is finding life financially difficult.
She can't understand why at a time when everyone is making sacrifices the EU is also not reigning back.
"It's just not possible. People are already stretched. We are getting by as well as we can. I can't see a future when we'll have to pay even more."
At the heart of the argument is what to do in the face of uncertain times.
The prevailing orthodoxy amongst national government is to make cuts and reduce budget deficits.
The EU argues that investment - through its budget - will help prevent a double-dip recession.
However asking for more money when people are already hard up is never going to be popular and to some seems simply greedy.
