MEPs hit out at reduction to EU budget ceiling
TOP EUROCRATS yesterday came out against the historic budget deal that would cut the limit on their spending for the first time.
All 27 premiers of the EU’s constituent states came to an agreement on a package pencilling in €908.4bn (£784.3bn) of spending between 2014 and 2020, with a limit of €960bn.
This is down from the €994bn limit in the previous seven year budget cycle, and from the €1.05 trillion eurocrats had originally demanded.
But senior figures in the three biggest parties in the European Parliament, whose approval is needed to pass the long-term plans, slammed the proposals, despite recession and austerity across Europe.
Hannes Swoboda, who leads the second-biggest faction in the chamber, called the proposals “unacceptable”. Guy Verhofstadt, president of a liberal coalition, and Joseph Daul, chairman of the biggest bloc, the European People’s Party, joined the chorus of parliamentary displeasure.
The budget deal was hailed as a historic victory for UK Prime Minister David Cameron, at a time when his authority is being questioned by his own party, which trails Labour in the polls.