Cameron's nit-picking fails to make real British case on EU Budget
Originally published by East Midlands Liberal Democrats
East Midlands LibDem MEP Bill Newton Dunn comments on the conclusion of negotiations for 2011
It is always easier to nit-pick rather than changing the big picture, especially when scoring cheap points to please the public.
So, when David Cameron attacks the European Parliament's proposals for a small increase in the EU 2011 budget and insists on a slightly smaller increase, without giving any details, that was the easy way.
Why, I wonder, does Downing Street not look at the overall EU picture and propose where really large savings could be made in the EU annual budget?
Why does he say nothing about the vast expense of MEPs being forced to travel back and forth between Brussels and Strasbourg - a treaty obligation which was put in place under the chairmanship of his Tory predecessor John Major? Not to mention the vast extra carbon emissions incurred from maintaining two sets of parliament buildings and the many trucks carrying papers to and fro.
Why not propose the abolition of EcoSoc in Brussels (the Economic and Social Committee) which has no powers at all and on which British appointees sit?
Why not propose the abolition of the CoR in Brussels (the Committee of the Regions) which also has no powers at all and to which British councillors are appointed?
Why not propose action to fight growing cross-border organised crime - which smuggles drugs and tobacco and people, and fakes of every possible kind, into the EU and into the UK, so destroying legitimate jobs and cutting governments' tax revenues? All it would take is to give the police cross-border powers and share the sovereignty with the other member states.
"So, come on Cameron" says Bill. "Be a Euro-realist, deal with real EU problems, and make really big savings for the UK and whole EU in the process. The tussle over the 2011 budget may be over now, but your real opportunity awaits, in the broader discussions on long-term EU funding. "
ENDS.
NOTES
The European Parliament on Wednesday 15 December adopted the 2011 EU Budget as agreed by the Council, Commission and Parliament: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/focus_page/008-106348-001-01-01-901-20101203FCS06328-01-01-2006-2006/default_p001c009_en.htm