Brussels will block David Cameron's attempt to cut EU budget

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/03/brussels-david-cameron-eu-budget

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The European Union budget crisis engulfing David Cameron and the 26 other EU heads of government is set to deepen after leaders of the European parliament vowed to block any compromise deal that does not pave the way for significant spending increases from 2014 to 2020.

A revolt on Wednesday by 53 Tory MPs, who joined Labour to call for an actual cut in the EU budget, means that the prime minister will head to a Brussels summit on 22 November with unrealisable demands for a real-terms reduction ringing in his ears.

While other countries which are net contributors to the budget – including Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland – also want a tough spending deal, Cameron will almost certainly be arguing for by far the strictest settlement of any EU country.

It was thought that the European commission, the EU's executive arm, had set the spending bar highest when it demanded a budget of €1.03tn for the 2014-2020 period, up 5% on 2007-13. But now the European parliament, which has the power to block any compromise reached by heads of government, is threatening to insist on a budget that could be even more generous.

The parliament has passed a resolution, with large majorities in both the socialist and centre-right European People's party groupings, that favours increases closer to 6%.

On Saturday the leader of the Socialist Group, the Austrian MEP Hannes Swoboda, told the <em>Observer</em> he expected "a big fight".

He believed the parliament would block any compromise that was not close to or higher than the commission's 5% increase. "If the compromise is not in the range of the commission proposals then we cannot agree," he said.

"We need a budget that is fulfilling its task and the task is [economic] growth and employment. Particularly in the poorest regions of the EU, we need growth."

He said that for many years national budgets had grown at far faster rates than the EU budget, which now stands at around 2% of the combined total of spending by member states.

But in the meantime, he said that the EU had been obliged by its member states to take on a bigger role in attempting to generate growth and reduce the economic divide between the continent's richer northern and poorer southern nations – a role that required funding to work.

Britain and Germany have been leading those countries demanding that the EU cuts back on its spending plans. Before last week's Commons defeat Cameron was pushing for a real-terms freeze in the budget. He now knows that even this may not be enough to win the backing of some of his own MPs in the Commons.

British negotiators are fearful that Germany will peel away from its hardline position and back a small budget increase to assist economic growth in less well-off EU nations. Last week a group of poorer southern and eastern EU nations rejected even a modest reduction in the commission's plans. A large bloc of member states, including eastern European nations, is backing the commission plan.