The EU wants to work with Britain to ensure a new fiscal agreement is in all European countries' interests despite a British decision not to join it, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Tuesday.

"I hope that we can work constructively with the UK government to make sure that the fiscal compact now agreed dovetails neatly with the European Union treaties so that the interests of all member states and institutions are respected," Barroso told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

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"It is in all of our interests to have a government of the United Kingdom that fully engages with the other member states and the European institutions," Barroso said.

(Via Brussels newsroom: reporting by John O'Donnell and Robin Emmott; editing by Rex Merrifield)