Commenting on the European Commission request for an additional 11.2 billion euros in an amending budget, senior Liberal Democrat MEP George Lyon, Vice-President of the European Parliament’s Budget Committee, said:
It is hard to understand how the Commission can justify this increase in the EU budget, long before bills from Member States are even through the door.
At this stage the Commission has no definite idea of what the final payment claims will be for EU projects and will not know until later in the autumn what size the bills from Member States to the EU budget are likely to be.
This ‘big-bang’ announcement from the Commission is premature and the Commissioner has to explain how on earth it has arrived at these figures.
The EU cannot always be the Oliver Twist of international organisations. Simply asking for more is not good enough. The Commission needs to explain why it believes it needs such a huge increase in the 2013 budget when it is only three months into the spending year.
1.5bn Euros, which would be the UK’s share of this money, is not exactly pocket change.
At a tough time for ordinary families and citizens across Europe, EU spending cannot be out of touch with the problems of the real world and people deserve some more answers.
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8 Comments
this is why I am determined that EU funding arrives as ‘gifts’ from participating states, and not as an independent revenue stream ‘owned’ by the EU.
I am pleased to see this attitude from one of our Liberal Democrats MEPs. It is distinctly at odds with the views expressed by Sarah Ludford MEP, who comes across as an apologist for EU profligacy.
Excellent to see one of our Euro MEPs showing that being pro Europe doesn’t nessasrily mean supporting everything Brussels does.
But why so we send money to Brussels only for them to ‘give’ back to us in the first place ?
‘Graham’ claims that ‘Sarah Ludford MEP…comes across as an apologist for EU profligacy’.
Can he explain that comment? It has no basis in fact whatsoever, as I’ve consistently backed EU budget constraint eg http://www.sarahludfordmep.org.uk/node/520, http://www.sarahludfordmep.org.uk/node/430; and http://www.sarahludfordmep.org.uk/node/2202 which reports a speech I made last November saying: ‘It is politically impossible to argue to EU citizens under pressure and losing their jobs that the EU budget should rise. So a freeze is the EU-friendly policy.’
In particular votes I have voted as advised by my budget expert colleague George Lyon, as I think he will attest. (I made one accidental mistake in the vote at ther last plenary, which was corrected).
Pushing for restraint in EU spending should not be done reluctantly, in a tone of lament and as a concession to political necessity – because it is ‘politically impossible’ to justify increases to hard-pressed voters – but out of genuine conviction that the EU needs to live in the real world and cut its coat accordingly.
Do those Lib Dem MEPs who warned that the idea of a real-terms cut in the EU budget was a non-starter continue to believe it is folly, or is this now justified on the grounds of political necessity?
I asked ‘Graham’ yesterday for an explanation of his comment that ‘Sarah Ludford MEP…comes across as an apologist for EU profligacy’. I have demonstrated that it is not true. I’m sufficiently annoyed – as well as puzzled – to ask that he please now justify or withdraw it.
Decisions made by MEPs voting in parliament are *part* of what “Brussels” does. Being an MEP means deciding EU policy, so of course it does not make sense for an MEP, whatever their political leaning, to “support everything Brussels does”. They help DECIDE IT!
Graham,
It’s funny how an MEP is described as an apologist for Europe when the chances are that, as matters are either decided by the Council of Ministers, or by the Parliament as a whole, she’s unlikely to agree with everything that is decided in Brussels or Strasbourg.
On the other hand, a cheap, wholly unsubstantiated slur seems to be rather easy for you to use. Substantiation is rather more difficult.
Sarah isn’t my favourite MEP, but I get her press releases for some inexplicable reason, and as she spends most of her time issuing statements on justice issues, I’m not convinced that she is a fan of perceived ‘EU profligacy’.
Or is ‘EU profligacy’ simply things that you personally don’t approve of?