Chancellor: Britain will not fill hole in EU's pensions provision

Mr Brown, giving evidence to the House of Commons European Scrutiny committee, also stressed that the National Health Service would not be absorbed by any pan-European health system.

The Chancellor, who was giving evidence to the committee’s inquiry into the EU’s so-called Lisbon Strategy for economic development, told MPs that the Union had to live within a "realistic" budget.

And he warned that the EU had to "wholeheartedly" embrace a decade-long programme of economic reform if its states were to prosper in the face of huge competition from emerging industrial powers such as China and India.

On pensions, Mr Brown acknowledged that many EU states face real problems ahead. While the cost of pensions to the state is around 5-6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product in Britain and will remain at that kind of level to the middle of the century, in countries such as Germany and France the figure is already 10 per cent and set to rise to 15 per cent by 2050.

Pressed on whether further integration could result in British subsidisation of those higher Continental costs, Mr Brown said: "There is no mechanism in the EU for doing that.

"We have no obligation to share the costs of pension provision made in other countries ... Nor would we accept any obligation to cover the pension costs of other countries. "Responsibilities for pension arrangements are for the member states."

The Chancellor also reiterated the Government’s determination to resist any moves towards EU tax harmonisation.