EU leaders will try to settle differences at a summit on 22 and 22 November. As things currently stand, a deal looks unlikely, with David Cameron in a particularly tricky position (for just how tricky, see here). Today we got a taste of things to come: the Brussels institutions launched a three-pronged attack on economic common sense.
- The European Parliament voted for 6.8% increase to the EU’s 2013 budget (which is subject to Qualified Majority Voting and co-decision between national ministers and MEPs), thereby rejecting member states’ compromise 2.79% increase, instead going with the Commission.
- In a report, the EP also backed a 5% increase to the EU’s long-term budget (and a lot bigger increase if off-balance sheet items are included), in line with the European Commission’s original proposal. This proposal has been rejected by all net contributing member states (which doesn’t mean that the net contributors agree amongst themselves).
- Finally, the Commission said today that it needs to amend the 2012 EU budget, since there's not enough cash left. If you’re a government on an EU-mandated austerity programme - or a a household - you’re forced to prioritise and find savings when there’s not enough money in the pot. If you’re an EU institution you ask for an additional €9bn (with roughly €3.1bn from fines imposed on member states, meaning that national governments will have to put up €5.9bn in total).
So if the EP/Commisison 2012 and 2013 proposals stand, which they probably won’t (we’ll return to the long-term budget), UK taxpayers would be forced to cough up another £2bn or so (£1.3bn increase for 2013 + £700m extra funds for this year), depending a bit on exchange rate used and the UK's pre-rebate share of the EU budget (both vary).
And those people who want the UK to leave the EU just got some additional killer campaign material to play with.
Well done Brussels.
10 comments:
Effectively the EP should be the standard bearer now for the EU giving it at least some democratic credibility, but roughly everything they do is a PR disaster. You forgot to mention the appointment of an ECB director. Apparently they want him to have a sexchange operation first.
No control over the budget while this should be the regulator/auditor/budgetczar to assure the EZ donot repeat its mistakes.
Huge strategical miss as well hardly any opposition party will support this except for the usual organic soybean eating bunch, that nobody takes serious anyway and let close to a government.
This is doubly infuriating for despite Clegg having agreed to a Cameron veto the EU - as usual - bends the rules and carries on as if nobody had vetoed anything.
And then the media here keep on writing articles notably (Lilico and Ambrose Evans Pritchard) saying weare already out of the EU in practice! Lunatics! We still have to pay for all the idiocies.
The parliament is a bunch of PRIZE idiots - how can anyone respect their judgement on anything?
The only way out is out. The only way of getting any reduction in the gross expenditure is to stop paying for it.
The EU is anti democratic, we all know that. The "democratic" bit is supposed to be the EP, however it is quite difficult to know who our MEP is (we have five locally and they seem not to be allocated to an area) and equally difficult to find out what how they vote on different matters, so very little democracy there. Rollo is right we need to get out, quickly.
Well what do you expect from a bunch of unelected failed politicians, the commission, they want everybody to tighten their belts so that they can award themselves a massive pay rise, which will be way above the inflation rate as usual. It is time this democratically deficient unwanted political body was erased.
The refusal of Cameron and Clegg even to negotiate on the E.U. budget flies in the face of the vital role of give and take in the E.U., given the salient role that the state governments play at the federal level. By refusing to negotiate, even if a mere posture, Cameron and Clegg could be charged with sabatoging the E.U. itself. For more, pls see my essay at The Worden Report. ... http://bit.ly/VOmRzm
Dr Worden , What role of give and take in the EU ? As everyone knows the EU always takes and member states are obliged to give .
In the name of the British people Cameron and Clegg should be seen as sabotaging the EU . The EU is the most Evil force that is fast destroying Europe , it will grind itself down till there is nothing left . Germany is currently the mainstay of the EU and if the Germans have to pay extorsionately to keep it alive , so be it .
Cameron & Clegg haven't got the balls to sabotage anything to do with the gravy train. I expect Clegg will be joining same again after he is booted out of Westminster.....the sooner the whole thing collapses the better and then we can get on with our lives without all the highly paid bureaucrats in Brussells dictating how we live our lives!
One cna expect nothing else from that bunch of crooks who live and work in Brussels for one of the most corrupt organisations in the world.
For example, when were its accounts last approved by the auditors? Any other body that behaved as this one does would by now have long been brokien up and its leaders jailed for fraud.
The sooner we get out of it, the better. But when will our politicians have the guts to come clean and do so?
AS with most european policy making, no one knows what goes on. This would benefit people greatly if they can come to an agreement but stumping up more tax payers money to an unelected body wont be an easy sell. If people understood what goes on they would understand the benefits and what goes on
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