European Union countries will coordinate budget plans starting next year, rather than making their own national choices, Italy's Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said on Sunday.

This year is the last in which national budgets will be made, Tremonti told a conference, according to Italian news agencies. The economic policies will all be done at the same time of the year, all together in the same way. There will no longer be a country that makes choices different from others.

The European Union is trying to toughen up the rules of the Stability Pact governing public finances, and Tremonti's comments lend Italy's support to proposals for national budgets to be coordinated at the EU level before being approved by national parliament.

The economic crisis had set in motion the transfer of power from individual nations to European bodies, Tremonti said.

Perhaps what's not been seen yet, but is very clear is that a colossal devolution of powers of European nations is happening, he said, according to the Ansa news agency.

(Writing by Deepa Babington; Editing by Louise Heavens)

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