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Perspectives financières
Date2005/12/14 10:59 by: GLOGOWSKI AleksanderAlors qu'Anthony Blair, Premier ministre d'un gouvernement travailliste, au nom de la présidence britannique de l'Union européenne est en train de mégôter sur les perspectives financières de l'Union, le chancelier autrichien Wolfgang Schüssel, dirigeant un gouvernement bleu-noir, a déclaré, selon le quotidien Kurier, qu'il était normal que la contribution de son pays au budget européen soit revue à la hausse lors du sommet européen cette semaine à Bruxelles : "J'assume le fait que nous devrons payer plus. Celui qui dit autre chose ne prend pas l'affaire au sérieux ou ment à la population", a-t-il déclaré devant la commission Europe du Parlement autrichien.
Il est passablement énervant pour un socialiste qui a manifesté contre Schüssel en 1999 -lorsque celui-ci a fait une coalition avec le FPÖ de Jörg Haider- qui est monté au créneau contre José Manuel Durão Barroso -lorsque ce-dernier a composé une équipe de libéraux notoires pour diriger la Commission européenne- de voir que ce sont aujourd'hui les travaillistes et les partis de gauche dans l'Union (GB, Suède, Rép. tchèque) qui sont sur le point d'établir un budget européen a minima.
Heureusement qu'il reste des personnalités socialistes ou social-démocrates éminentes pour sauver l'honneur dans ce débat. On pense au président socialiste du Parlement européen, Josep Borell Fontenes, ou encore, dans la commission du Budget du PE, à des députés socialistes comme Catherine Guy-Quint se battent pour que le budget 2006 et plus tard les perspectives financières 2007-2013 permettent à l'Union d'être un espace de solidarité entre les plus riches et les plus pauvres et non une zone exclusivement marchande. -
Re:Perspectives financières
Date2006/01/07 19:58 by: Richard Corbett MEPIn fact, Tony Blair had a thankless task in trying to reach an agreement on the budget. He had to reconcile the six countries who wanted to limit EU spending to 1% of GDP with those who wanted a much larger budget. He had to deal with Mr Chirac, who wanted to ring-fence all agricultural spending. He had to deal with the expectations of the new member states, who understandably want the kind of assistance to poorer countries that the EU has provided in the past. He also had to deal with the frankly rather less defensible demands of some long-standing members seeking to preserve their privileges – such as Spain wanting to remain a net beneficiary to a greater extent than the much poorer central European countries, and Luxembourg which, in per capita terms, is both the richest member state and the biggest net beneficiary! He had to deal with all those who thought that a cost-free way (for them!) to increase resources was to eliminate the British rebate. So it is a tribute to his negotiating skills that he secured a deal at all!
He did it in part by making a courageous offer, namely to adjust the UK rebate in favour of the new, poorer Member States. Britain's net EU contribution - even after the recbate - has for a long time been among the highest, and far higher than that of France (which is the same size as Britain both in terms of population and as regards its economy). With this adjustment, Britain will still be a major net contributor, and Blair is willing to risk big political problems at home to secure a deal for the sake of Europe.
If you actually wade through the details of the EU budget deal, there are some interesting points:
On agriculture, spending will actually fall by 7.3%. And the new member states will be fitted in under that ceiling - not just the ten who joined last year who are currently being phased in to the CAP, but also Romania and Bulgaria! This amounts to a large reduction (about 20%?) in agricultural spending in the 15 old member states.
Contrast this with the overall rise in spending in other areas: spending on research (to boost our economic competitiveness - part of what Tony Blair wanted in calling for a more future-oriented budget) will rise by 75% between 2006 and 2013.
Economic help to less prosperous regions will rise. This means that it, and not the CAP, will be the largest item in the EU budget. Spending on police and judicial cooperation will more than double. External aid will rise by about a third.
Meanwhile, the announcement in Hong Kong at the WTO talks that the EU has agreed to phase out all remainig agricultural export subsidies by 2013 is also welcome news. Coming straight after the summit, it shows that the commitment to further agricultural reform is indeed serious. -
Re:Perspectives financières
Date2006/01/08 18:31 by: GermanInternationalistNice hearing from an MEP comrade on here.
In fact i sorta understood that comrade Tony didnt wanna give up his rebate when the bulk of the EU Budget goes to German and French farmers. -
Re:Perspectives financières
Date2006/01/09 22:20 by: AntoineIt's funny to see that the farmer are spitting on Europe since ages and are the one who take most of the credits... I love Europe and I don't receive a €!!! Damn it, I should hate Europe, it would help!
