£100bn extra? That's not a budget rise says deluded Brussels

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-Brussels.html

£100bn extra? That's not a budget rise, says deluded Brussels

• 'They're living in fantasyland,' says Tory MP
• EU demand is actually 10% increase in spending between 2014 and 2020

Brussels bosses were accused of living in ‘fantasyland’ last night after the European Commission claimed its demand for £100billion of extra cash was not a budget increase. Viviane Reding, the vice president of the Commission, said it was ‘a miracle’ that the EU had not demanded even more money. The budget, which will land Britain with a £10billion bill, is a calculated snub to David Cameron, who has insisted it should rise by no more than inflation at a time of austerity at home.

The Commission: always asking for more.

In a sign of how detached EU officials have become from public opinion, Mrs Reding claimed the budget was not rising – when Brussels was actually demanding a 10 per cent increase in spending between 2014 and 2020 compared with the current budget period. She said: ‘It is a myth to say the budget goes up. We are not asking for more money. We have a steady budget that is not increasing. That is really a miracle.' Mrs Reding, from Luxembourg, also claimed the budget for bureaucrats ‘is even going dramatically down’ – a bare-faced lie exposed by the small print of the budget, which shows spending on administration rising from 5.7 per cent of the total to 6.1 per cent.

In what could become a watershed moment for Britain’s relations with Brussels, Commission boss Jose Manuel Barroso declared the UK and other large EU states should funnel cash to poorer countries in Eastern Europe. ‘It would be a complete mistake, just because of the current moment of very serious fiscal constraint, to make it impossible for the EU to invest in the future,’ he said. ‘Our offer is reasonable, realistic, credible.’

Treasury sources accused the Commission of fiddling the figures, pushing £50billion worth of spending off the main balance sheet and failing to compare like statistics with like. Even after inflation is factored in, the total amount spent on the EU will go from £114billion a year to an average of £127billion over the seven-year period – with British taxpayers expected to find around £10billion extra, or £1.4billion a year. To make matters worse the Commission wants to chisel away at Britain’s £3.5billion a year rebate negotiated by Margaret Thatcher.

Taxpayers in this country are paying billions of pounds every year towards the bloated bureaucracy that runs the European Union. Here are some of the ways they spend our cash:

• Forty per cent of European Commission staff earn more than £70,000. Just one per cent do so in the British civil service.

• For every pound paid to the EU, 37p will go on the Common Agricultural Policy, which pays subsidies to landowners who are not even farmers.

• Beneficiaries have included golf courses, a Swedish cannabis farmer and the King of Sweden. Spending on administration in Brussels will rise from 5.7 per cent to 6.1 per cent of the total budget.

• Costs are being cut by 33 per cent in Whitehall.

• Having two homes for the European Parliament – in Brussels and in Strasbourg – costs more than £160million a year extra.

• MEPs cost £450,000 a year in salary, allowances, staff and office costs – more than double MPs in Westminster

• The entertainment budget of the European Parliament rose 85 per cent over the last year.

I did warn before the election through numerous examples how much of a problem the EU was even without the recent troubles, but many of you on here (along with the two major parties) thought that a meaningless debate over £6bn in National Insurance was much more important during election time. Now with £15bn+ odd tied up in bailouts we will never get back (thanks Mr Darling and Mr Osborne!) the greedy EU is still asking for more as it always does. As usual with the EU, it appears to suffer from a syndrome which causes politicians to repeat the same line 'the EU is failing, therefore we need more EU!'. But all of this isn't all, the EU has not had its accounts audited for the last 16 years in a row - any private business which operated in this manner, well the owners would be in prison for fraud.

Why we can't be out of the belly of the monster is beyond me, its just getting worse and worse each year. You may not like all of this and what the Commission says, but what can you do? the European Commission isn't elected and cannot be removed like any national government can be.

What will Mr Cameron do? what will Mr Miliband do? what does Mr Clegg think we should do? will any of them do anything? what do you think we should do? thoughts!

[The Don]

I hate the EU, why can't the British public see the light and vote UKIP

[dbgtz]

I find it ironic how they get an entertainment budget yet people can barely afford to pay their bills let alone have parties and crap.

[Mathew]

I really do think you've managed to bring the majority of people around to your way of thinking on this issue, Dan. There was a time in my youth when I thought the EU was a nice little central meeting point for all the governments to discuss how to make our continent better; unfortunately, I couldn't be more wrong.

It's such a shame that the average taxpayer has to sit back and watch this happen. 35% of the population don't even vote and the large majority of voters will be clueless about costly issues such as the EU anyway. It's such a shame.

[Chippiewill]

Ah finally, a 10% cut.. no I misread 10% rise?!? OMGWTFBBQ? Any rise above interest is absurd. **** the EU and make ourselves a proper nation again.. you know.. the one which doesn't get kicked laying down by small people in Brussels.

If we had a salary that the EU had for it's staff then we might actually have some intelligent people working in the government and we'd end up with FAR less half-baked crazy schemes. I shall be voting UKIP when I can vote because this is just getting silly now and hopefully the British public know so too.

[GommeInc]

<insert generic "we shouldn't be in the EU post" here>

I am getting tired of posting the same thing over and over We shouldn't be in the EU, it's a money absorbing sponge, a money sucking leech we shouldn't be a part of. We shouldn't be told what to do by an organisation that isn't accountable - why anyone thought it wise to create something doomed to economic failure is beyond me.

[alexxxxx]

I really do think you've managed to bring the majority of people around to your way of thinking on this issue, Dan. There was a time in my youth when I thought the EU was a nice little central meeting point for all the governments to discuss how to make our continent better; unfortunately, I couldn't be more wrong.

It's such a shame that the average taxpayer has to sit back and watch this happen. 35% of the population don't even vote and the large majority of voters will be clueless about costly issues such as the EU anyway. It's such a shame.

I'm tired of UKIP press releases being posted here as news. I haven't really read much into this however I wouldn't think they'd get much or any budget increase... will be unpopular in the UK, Germany, France, Greece probs. The EU should be making efficiency savings like the member states governments atm.

[ifuseekamy]

Same old as always. Imagine the uproar and cries of colonial fascism if Britain made laws and regulations for Commonwealth countries and reinstated ex-members and demanded tax revenue. But hey ho fine if Germany and Belgium do it to Europe.

[Kaytti]

I searched 'benefits of the EU' in Google as I feel that I actually don't know very much about it.

The results were quite dismal.

-The Euro -
Oh yeah, that thing we don't use? So we STILL have to change our money. Btw, I'm all for the pound.

-'Being a EU citizen you can travel across Europe without a passport and without being stopped at borders'
Which has resulted in illegal import problems along with security issues.

-'Free Movement of workers across Europe.'
This is going to sound rather harsh, but this free movement is resulting in a high number of people in my area losing their jobs because of foriegn workers.

-'Prospect of membership has helped modernise Turkey.' -
Um, where is our help? Why do we have to bail out every other country?

Ok, yes I know it brings about peace between countries in Europe. Yet, not every European country is a member.

[DPS]

If we ever changed money to the euro id move to australia, i dont wanna be part of the EU, nobody in the UK wants to be part of the EU, why do we have to bail all these stupid countrys that cant keep hold of there own bloody money!