Read the rest of the sorry story at the BBC's ironically named Democracy Live site.MEPs have insisted on an above-inflation increase in the EU's budget, despite opposition from national governments.
On 26 October 2011 the European Parliament held its final debate on the draft budget for 2012, before final negotiations begin with the Commission and the Council of Ministers.
MEPs broadly followed a recommendation by the Budgets Committee to back - and exceed - the Commission's proposal for a 4.9% increase in the EU's 2012 budget compared with the 2011 budget.
This would give the EU a budget of approximately €132bn and the proposed rise is above the rate of inflation.
UPDATE:
What the BBC doesn't tell you is that no British MEPs supported the increase:
53 British MEPs voted against; 8 abstained.
In Germany, 61 voted for the increase; 9 against.
In France, 44 voted for the increase; 8 against.
Overall, 430 voted for; 122 against.
For the record, here are the British MEPs who shamefully abstained (5 Lib Dems, 2 Greens, 1 Plaid Cymru):
You mean the Turkeys did not vote for Christmas. Quelle surprise!
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to plot voting records for each country against their net contributions to the EU, which you can see here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EU_net_budget_2007-2013_per_capita.png
(linked from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_the_European_Union)
In that context, it's not surprising that all 47 Polish MEPs voted for the increase. It also goes some way to explaining why the majority of MEPs from The Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden voted against.
What's not so clear is why Germany (the biggest net contributor), and France (apparently a net contributor despite the CAP) are so pro-EU. I suspect is has to do with a disconnect between the elites in those countries and the general public.