Luxembourg, 12/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Monday, the finance ministers of the Member States of the EU failed to reach agreement on how to split the 1.25 billion dollars Philip Morris is to pay the EU to help fight the smuggling and counterfeiting of cigarettes (EUROPE 8925). The Commission's proposals provide for the money to be shared between the ten countries which supported the Commission's legal actions, on the basis of on Philip Morris sales in each States and the quantities of cigarettes seized. The ministers took contradictory stances on the weighting of each factor and some of them asked for other criteria, such as national wealth, to be taken on board. According to a diplomatic source quoted by AFP, Italy is set to be the main beneficiary of the share, ahead of Germany. There are differences of opinion on the share reserved for the European budget as well, to be indirectly shared by all 25 Member States: the Commission has “proposed 9.7% for the European budget, which we feel is a bit high”, said the German minister Hans Eichel, who is looking at 20-25% of the total.