EU leaders defend stakes in budget
European leaders were staking out their strong positions as they gathered budget session.
.
In a battle pitting several wealthy member states against those seeking a bigger aid budget, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron led the charge for those demanding a reduction in the financial clout and political sway of the EU s institutions.
As he arrived for a preliminary meeting with Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council of the 27 heads of state and government, Cameron said he was not happy with the latest budget proposals.
"These are very important negotiations," Cameron said. "And clearly, at a time when we re making difficult decisions at home over public spending, it would be quite wrong it is quite wrong for there to be proposals for this increased extra spending in the EU.
So we re going to be negotiating very hard for a good deal for Britain s taxpayers and for Europe s taxpayers, and to keep the British rebate."
Facing an ever more vocal Euroskeptic electorate at home, Cameron is under huge pressure to veto any seven-year deal which would exceed the old 2007-2013 €1 trillion ($1.28 trillion) budget.
The budget primarily funds programs to spur growth in the bloc s less developed regions and farming and amounts to about 1 percent of the EU s gross domestic product.
The European Commission, the EU s executive arm, backs more spending, arguing that cross-border initiatives will help to create the economic growth and jobs that the bloc of a half-billion people needs.
Cameron is the main proponent alongside the Netherlands, Sweden and, to a certain extent Germany for imposing limits on EU spending. He will demand a real cut in the EU budget, claiming that is the only justifiable outcome at a time when almost every member state has to cut its budget to lower debt.
Those opposing cuts to the budget say that European institutions need the means to implement their policies, which include creating jobs and economic growth, helping development in many southern and eastern nations, and closing the wealth gap between member states.
"Certain countries want to make drastic reductions in the budget. That s a big mistake," said Elio Di Rupo, Belgium s prime minister.
Sixteen of the EU s most financially and economically vulnerable countries have joined forces to oppose cuts to funds earmarked for economic growth and development.
