Anger as European Commission asks British taxpayers for an extra £500m
The European Commission accused of "living on a different planet" after asking for a £3.8 billion cash-increase to EU budget The European Commission has today been accused of "raiding the pockets of voters" after demanding an extra £500 million from British taxpayers to meet Brussels spending bills
The EU executive, which oversees European spending, has demanded an extra £3.8bn in cash from national governments to pay for costs - including £200 million extra help to Ukraine. The rest of the money will be spent on youth employment projects and regional policy.
National governments are furious at an increase that comes in the aftermath of EU elections victories for populist and far-Left and Right parties in Britain, France, Denmark and Greece.
"What a smart way to react to the concerns of Europe's voters, let's ask them for more money," said a European diplomat.
"The commission must live on another planet if they think that Europe can reconnect with people by raiding their wallets."
The new increase to the EU's £110 billion budget has also angered Britain after David Cameron, the Prime Minister, used a meeting of European leaders on Tuesday to attack Brussels for being "too big, too bossy, too interfering".
"At a time when countries across Europe continue to take difficult decisions to deal with deficits, the European Commission should not be asking Europe's taxpayers for yet more money," said a government spokesman.
"We will work with other governments to achieve a budget for this year which ensures budget discipline and reflects the economic reality in Europe, as well as the tough but fair deal done by the Prime Minister last year."
Britain's bill for EU membership more than tripled over the last decade, increasing from £2.9 billion in 2002 to £9.5bn in 2012 - leading to a historic decision last year to cut EU spending between 2014 and 2020.
National governments are concerned that the commission is using a so-called "contingency margin" to push spending back up incrementally during the course of the year, with the second upwards amendment to the budget in five months.
"A proposal for the mobilization of the contingency margin in 2014 would not only be legally questionable but also unnecessary, premature and not a 'last resort' option" said a letter from Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden, Holland and the UK.
The commission has blamed governments for making extra demands on the budget, meaning that extra money must be found from national treasuries.
The commission has also argued that the cost to government will only be £1.8 billion in extra as it will find the remaining £2bn from competition fines and surplus cash from last year.
The argument that is rejected by governments because if the budget was not increased that cash would be used to reduce contributions via rebates or lower budgets, flowing back to national treasuries.
"Member states agreed to frontload youth employment and science from 2015 to 2014, which means more resources are needed.
"Member States agreed to help Ukraine, which means more resources are needed.
"Member States sent far bigger bills for their cohesion (regional) policy projects than they told us they would, which means more resources needed," said a spokesman.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -500m.html
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