EU Referendum


EU politics: sparking impotent "fury"


29/05/2014



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If the media were any good at their jobs, we would be having an entertaining time now confronting Mr Cameron with some serious questions.

In particular, they would be asking him why, after he had grandstanded over containing the 2014 EU budget, following negotiations that dragged into least November, the Commission is back already with a demand for another €4.738 billion (£3.8bn), of which UK taxpayers will have to find about £500 million.

The point is, of course, that back in November, Mr Cameron was keen to keep the headline figure for 2014 to €135.5 billion and thus cement in his "victory" on the multi-annual financial framework. Thus he completely ignored the warnings that the Commission was under-budgeting and would not be able to cover its legal obligations.

So it is that, five months into the financial period, the Commission has submitted the first of what will be several Draft Amending Budgets which demand a real increase in member state contributions, just to cover the deficit for this year.

Furthermore, this is still ignoring the €217 billion in deferred payments, known as reste à liquider (RAL), which haven't gone away and will not go away. No matter how often they are deferred, and how much creative accounting that the Commission engages in, these bills will eventually have to be paid.

As for the media, it reports events in terms of the demand having "sparked fury", with accusations of the European Commission "living on a different planet", as if it was ever going to be any different, or that the Commission had any other option.

If anyone is "living on a different planet", it is the likes of Cameron, who think they can make political capital out of squeezing the headline budget, while ignoring the reality that EU commitments have legal force under the treaties, and must be met out of current income. Unlike member states, the Commission is prohibited from running up a deficit.

Effectively, member state leaders, such as Cameron, are trying to have their cake and eat it. They want to be seen to be controlling expenditure, yet at the same time – by act or default – they are permitting the Commission to take on extra commitments.

In the case of Mr Cameron, this country is a net contributor, so it ends up paying for schemes which are most often approved under QMV, in which event he has no direct control and has to permit these raids on the British taxpayer. The only remedy is for the UK to invoke Article 50 and leave the EU.

Needless to say, this is the one thing Mr Cameron will not do. Thus, periodically, we have to go through this ritualised "fury" which is nothing other than political window dressing. All it is doing is covering up the studied impotence of a man who could do something about the underlying issues but who has decided to stand aside and let the EU take our money.

Other players in this are Members of Parliament, currently on holiday, who ultimately approve the bills and sanction the collection of tax to pay for them. But while they sit on their hands, and let the Commission take the flak, we ourselves have to take some of the blame for allowing them to do so. When, collectively, we decide that we have had enough, there is an answer.

But as long as we permit it this cynical grandstanding by the likes of Mr Cameron,  the only thing left to us is impotent "fury", and lazy headlines from an ignorant media.

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