EU suspends Honduras budgetary support payments

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Monday it was suspending all budgetary support payments to Honduras after the failure of efforts to resolve a crisis following a military overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya.

"I very much regret that it has not been possible to this date to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution to the Honduran crisis," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement.

"In view of the circumstances, I have taken the difficult decision to suspend all budgetary support payments," she said. An EU spokesman said he was not immediately able to provide a figure for the budgetary support suspended.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee and David Brunnstrom)