It's All In How You Spin It

Wednesday 30 September, 2015 Written by POLITICO

The Times

According to POLITICO: MEPs yesterday voted to reverse a series of EU budget cuts requested by the EU’s national governments — on refugees and migration issues (they want an extra €1.2 billion in 2016). MEPs also propose more funding for youth employment programs, the Erasmus+ student mobility program and for research, transport and energy networks. Overall the Parliament’s budget committee wants to spend €146.5 billion next year, while the Commission proposes €143.5 billion and the Council proposes €142 billion. As usual they will end up meeting in the middle, and all claim victory. British media reported it as an attempt to slap an extra bill on them.

According to the Times: British taxpayers face an extra European Union bill of £384 million (€519m) next year after MEPs moved against national governments today to reverse cuts to Brussels budgets by increasing spending.

National budget ministers agreed an EU budget for 2016 of €142.1 billion in July, cutting the European Commission’s original proposal by €1.4 billion.

In a move that heralds a fierce fight for David Cameron, the European parliament’s budget committee has reversed the cuts and increased spending by an additional €3 billion, a demand that will be rubber-stamped by MEPs next month.

We also came across this titbit:

ON BRITAIN’S BIG EU DAY, HILL SAYS: “Our economy is about the same size as America’s, but our equity markets are less than half the size of theirs — and our debt markets less than one-third. In the U.S., small and medium-sized companies raise about five times as much funding from capital markets as in the EU. If European venture capital markets were as deep as those in the U.S., our companies could have raised an extra €90bn over the past five years … We could give Europe’s businesses more choices over funding, helping them to invest and grow; increase investment in infrastructure; draw in more funding from outside the EU; help businesses sell into bigger markets; and help those saving for their old age.”