UK, France and Germany secretly negotiating on EU Budget

[PaddyJoe]

It seems that the big three are making the real decisions in private while the the minnows make up the numbers:

Britain, France and Germany were on Thursday engaged in clandestine efforts to secure a real-terms freeze in the European Union budget until 2020, in a move that will infuriate Poland and other poorer EU states.

David Cameron, Britain’s prime minister, was privately lobbying leaders of other EU paymaster countries at a summit in Brussels last night, hoping that up to 10 countries would sign a letter calling for the freeze. Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, and Angela Merkel, German chancellor, have backed the letter but wanted to keep its existence under wraps to avoid a diplomatic row at a time when the eurozone crisis was already stretching EU unity.

As news of the initiative began to seep out last night, there was anger from those who gain most from the EU’s €141.5bn budget and those who see Brussels spending as a driver of European integration.

“We are fully mobilised,” said a Polish official. “It’s not something that has any value of surprise.” Meanwhile José Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, was said by diplomats to be furious at the initiative; he is supposed to be leading discussion on the drafting of the next EU budget, running from 2014-20.

One senior diplomat claimed Mr Barroso had been sidelined in a classic manoeuvre by Europe’s biggest budget contributors, reminiscent of a stitch-up by the same countries in 2003 ahead of the 2007-13 budget round.

The diplomat claimed Britain and Germany had made tacit agreements that France’s beloved Common Agricultural Policy would remain largely intact, while Britain’s equally cherished budget rebate would survive unscathed.
With EU spending frozen in real terms – and declining over the budget period as a share of Europe’s total wealth – the big losers would be those countries reliant on structural funds to bolster their economies.
British officials deny any grand bargain over the rebate and CAP. Nevertheless, a call for budget discipline would be a significant – and much needed – negotiating triumph for Mr Cameron, who has faced anger from his own Conservative MPs for failing to take a tougher line in Europe.
Mr Cameron is already under fire for agreeing to a new EU treaty revision – setting up a permanent eurozone bail-out mechanism – without securing any significant concessions from Brussels in return.
Mr Cameron’s campaign has put him on a collision course with Poland, which is the biggest net beneficiary of EU funds, and would be hardest hit by any move to limit the budget. Last year, the country took in €6.5bn more in EU funds than it paid out.
The Poles have been rounding up support from fellow central and eastern European countries, who are also beneficiaries of the EU budget. They also met Mr Barroso on Thursday morning to discuss their concerns.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/74586720-0...#axzz18KcqpcP4

[DCon]

Cammie Baby threatening to use the UK veto to block the EU Budget

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday threatened to scupper European Union budget talks unless other members of the 27-nation bloc agree to "proper control" of spending, without specifying what would be an acceptable settlement for Britain.

Cameron also lent his support to a proposal for two EU budgets, one for the euro zone and another for cash-strapped Britain and the nations outside the single currency, but said it would take some time to come to fruition.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8960D720121007

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

For whom the bell tolls ... I suspect France will get its agricultural subsidies ringfenced while they will be reduced for other smaller Eurozone countries.

The Chinese will be demanding the eradication of EU subsidies at World Trade and GATT talks so the Germans will humour the French for a while with their farming 'Le Parque Croke' and then France will lose the subsidies in the end.

There would be calls for an election, the incumbent in Paris will nosedive in the polls, tractors will clog the roads of Brussels for a while. Somewhere a car will run over a small dog. It may rain.

C'est la vie.

[Slim Buddha]

It seems that the big three are making the real decisions in private while the the minnows make up the numbers:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/74586720-0...#axzz18KcqpcP4

Eventually it is not David "Call me Dave" Cameron who will decide this but Merkel, or, to be more specific, Schäuble. The Poles had great fun supporting the US in its various military campaigns and delighted in this independence of foreign policy, much to the annoyance of the Germans at the time.

The bill is about to arrive for their short-sightedness. Even if there is a change of government in Germany next year, that won't change because Steinbrück is no great fan of Poland either.

The Germans will remind the Poles in no uncertain terms that he who pays the piper calls the tune.

[DCon]

Cammie Baby threatening to use the UK veto to block the EU Budget



http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8960D720121007

Van Rompuy not taking this sitting down

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy yesterday threatened David Cameron with the removal of Britain’s EU budget rebate if he vetoes an inflation-busting rise in the Brussels budget.

Mr Van Rompuy warned that other countries will seek to abolish the deal which Margaret Thatcher negotiated in the 1980s when he visited Downing Street yesterday.

Without the totemic cashback scheme, Britain’s net contributions to the EU, now £12billion, would soar to £15billion a year.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2AOWbLnm6
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[Greengoddess]

Van Rompuy not taking this sitting down

Told you. This is where the attempts to placate us come in. I was told yesterday that we will have to deal with this mess. Mess is a benign description.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Let me get this straight- Van Rompuy threatens that he'll make an even bigger case for those in Britain who want to withdraw from the EU if they operate a veto they are entitled under the rules of the EU to use?

Seems sensible in the topsy turvey world of Brussels. Is Rumpy-Pumpy aware that the UK government is seeking a list of 132 repatriated powers from Brussels as well?

If the proto-Austroa-Hungarian Empire mindset of those in Brussels doesn't sort itself out soon then we will have the amusing scenario of a common currency zone attempting to become a Federation which is arse backwards and contributed in no small fashion to the current economic crisis while people like Rumpy appear to do as much as they can to split the EU.

UK, Spain, Italy (possibly) Ireland, Portugal could either leave or fall out of the proto Austro Hungarian Empire they are drawing on a wall in Brussels and Germany and France could be left with the eastern european mafia states.

The parallels between the attempt at a Federal Europe and the Brobdinagian Austro-Hungarian Empire grow more marked. Even down to the two shared capitals. The first major crisis that lot faced and the institutions fell apart.

The EU is held together with masking tape at the moment and that gobshyte is making threats along the tear lines.

Who is this ****** clerk-from-nowhere anyway?

[DCon]

Clegg "dropped in" on Cammy and HVR

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bd99ad44-1...#ixzz2AP67CbUf

Downing St said Mr Cameron did not explicitly mention to Mr Van Rompuy a possible veto of any deal that failed to meet Britain’s requirements in what are expected to be bruising and protracted summit negotiations on November 22-23.

However, officials said the prime minister was adamant that Britain could not accept increases in EU spending at a time when all member states were “tightening their belts” to deal with high levels of debt.

Mr Clegg told Mr Van Rompuy that the UK was “not looking for a spat on the budget” and that he believed a deal could be reached. “Taxpayers across Europe wouldn’t understand a significant increase,” Mr Clegg’s aides said.

[Apjp]

Told you. This is where the attempts to placate us come in. I was told yesterday that we will have to deal with this mess. Mess is a benign description.

What's their hopes? Build a few more roads in Ireland to keep the population quiet that little bit longer until the political union is irreversibly complete?

[DCon]

Trouble in Paradise over the way

David Cameron suffered a damaging defeat tonight as dozens of mutinous Tory MPs joined forces with Labour to demand the Prime Minister presses for cuts in European Union spending.

The embarrassing reverse came despite a concerted drive by the Prime Minister, Cabinet colleagues and Tory whips to charm and cajole rebels into line.

They failed and a motion calling for the Prime Minister to press for a cut in real terms in the European Union budget for 2014-2020 was carried by 307 votes to 294, a majority against the Government of 13.

The Prime Minister is arguing instead for EU spending increases to be linked to inflation over that period, warning that calling for a cut in spending is unrealistic.

Mark Reckless, the Tory MP who led the rebellion, told the Commons that his constituents could not understand why when EU spending was rising while budgets were being cut to Britain’s public services.

He said even inflation-linked rises would see the UK’s contribution rising from £9.2bn last year to £13.6bn in 2020. Mr Reckless said: “We simply cannot, cannot afford that.”

The veteran Eurosceptic, Bill Cash, condemned the EU for constantly demanding bigger budgets.

He said: “The money comes from the taxpayer, it doesn't grow on trees - that's what they don't understand. They are living on another planet, that's the real problem.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...s-8269200.html


Not that it matters, but if your surname was Reckless could you have any Ministerial aspirations?

Minister Reckless, while probably true, would not pass the PR test

[DCon]

Bit OTT

[Greengoddess]

Bit OTT

The Irish Gov will have to deal with all this during the Presidency.

[C. Flower]

Mark Reckless, the Tory MP who led the rebellion

*chortles*

The veteran Eurosceptic, Bill Cash, condemned the EU for constantly demanding bigger budgets.

*hits wall of disbelief*

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

The Irish Gov will have to deal with all this during the Presidency.

Nightmare On Sesame Street.

[morticia]

Irresistible force meets immovable object...

For what it is worth, ever increasing EU spending against a background of austerity was always going to be a hard sell, even without the Eurosceptic Tories.

Nightmare on Sesame St is about right...