Writing for City A.M. Matthew Sinclair argues that the latest EU budget row is about the ultimate objectives of the Union, not just how much money it wastes in the process:
THE EU summit in Brussels last week ended the way most people expected: no agreement. The deal on the table from Hermann van Rompuy – president of the European Council – was for a €973bn (£787.5bn) budget over seven years in 2011 prices. It was significantly less than the over €1 trillion budget originally proposed by the European Commission.
Many in Brussels back the European Commission and regard David Cameron as an utterly unreasonable eurosceptic for insisting on at least a real terms freeze in the Budget. Hannes Swoboda MEP – president of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group, which Labour MEPs call home – said “it is unacceptable that the majority of member countries are letting themselves be blackmailed by Cameron, who is permanently threatening to block progress in the EU”.
