The Government suffered a defeat in the House of Commons because some members wished to see a cut in the spending of the EU.
It would be tempting to say this was because they disagreed with cutting public spending and preferred instead to see higher spending to boost economic activity. Interestingly the Labour Party supported an amendment to cut the EU budget despite opposing cuts at home. The Conservatives who rebelled may have done so to give the UK a stonger bargaining position to oppose the rise in the EU budget.
The European Commission (the group of appointed officials who run the EU) wanted a 6.8% rise in the EU budget and were backed by the EU Parliament. The committee of governments - the EU Council - only agreed a 2.79% rise.
There are a number of issues, among them:
The EU spends 32% of its budget supporting farmers.
The EU spends 36% of its budget supporting poorer areas of the EU
The EU budget has risen every year since 2000
A few countries are large net contributors to the budget - this includes the UK
All EU countries have had to cut expenditure since the recession to balance budgets
The debate about UK membership of the EU may depend on how fair our contribution to the EU budget is seen to be. Iain Duncan-Smith (Works and Pensions Secretary) said he could see the UK 'thriving' outside of the EU over the weekend - it's not clear if he or Michael Gove had the brain they share at the time. But there is a lot at stake.
A strong EU with a large budget could help to stabilise Europe and provide economic management of the continent. However many oppose this view and prefer nation states to run their own affairs.
Both visions may be unrealistic. No nation can stand alone, but the political integration needed for the EU to be the economic manager of Europe is unacceptable to most at present.
No it shouldn't rise at all, it should be cut. When people across Europe are facing pay freezes, cuts to their services and cuts to their benefits then the European Union should also be cutting its budget - I say that as a pro-European. They spend over 30% of their budget on farming, many of which goes to big corporations, when it should be spending a larger proportion of its money on innovation and science. Also, many Brussels officials are still getting massive perks and allowances which could be reined in at a time of austerity. Cameron should start building alliances in Europe and propose a huge cut to the EU budget (possibly 25%), even if it means giving up Britain's rebate. Silly decisions from the EU, strengthens the case that Eurosceptics make time and time again.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the article is a bit unfair seen as it claims the Labour Party is opposing cuts at home when in reality it is just opposing the scale and pace of deficit reduction, but has said clearly that it would cut spending if it were in Government.
surely if the agricultural policy budget was cut and replaced with higher prices in the produce from the farms which went directly to struggling farmers would help them more as it would be giving directly to them (similar to fair-trade) rather than going through the EU, who take a middle man cost. Therefore for the same amount of money it would help farmers more.
ReplyDeleteThis would mean a large cut in the tax for EU budget, a large proportion of the current budget at 30%. so a significant cut in this would make a serious change to the taxes collected.
p.s. having some problems signing in with google accounts
The problem i that world prices are low and if you have free trade you can't give farmers higher prices. So to increase farm incomes the consumer pays more than they should somehow - taxes or prices.
ReplyDeleteYetunde
ReplyDeleteYes there needs to be changes in how the EU budget is funded, although there would be a greater strain on the UK because they are the larger contributors, the facts show that the budget goes towards worthy causes like poor areas which would need better infrastructure. However, I sincerely agree with the fact that the EU inevitably, if not already, will become massively dependent on the UK and the other countries that help more. Either everyone contributes the same amount, and therefore can make a collective decision, or countries like Germany and the UK since they contribute more, make the final decisions on whether or not they feel the budget needs to be raised, and whether it is in the interests of their own country’s economy.