Conservatives condemn irresponsible EU budget vote
Posted, October 11, 2011 @ 18:00
Members of the European Parliament's Budget Committee today (Tues) confirmed their intention to seek a major hike in the EU's budget next year.
In defiance of pleas from British Conservative MEPs to accept a standstill budget because of the gobal economic crisis, the committee voted to stick to its demands for an increase of 5.2 per cent or 5.7 billion pounds for 2012.
James Elles, budget spokesman for Britain's Conservative MEPs, said: "We have consistently argued for a freeze in the budget, including that for 2012. To enable this, we have specifically identified at least €2 billion which could be saved under several headings right across the budget.
"That is the only responsible way to go in the light of the hardships being felt across member states and the overwhelming scale of debt which is undermining their economies.
"We are making progress with our amendments for cutting the European Parliament's budget, where we say savings should be made on translating documents and to avoid sending interpreters to meetings where they are not needed. Action is already being taken to reduce amounts by €25 million.
"We will keep voting for a budget that is fair to our taxpayers. We hope that we will in time win over our colleagues with the force of our arguments - we believe that just as much effort should be made in saving funds as in spending them."