Britain's long-term EU budget goal "in sight"
Posted,5/15/2013 1:00:00 PM
Agreement on an extra €7.3 billion in this year's EU budget should pave the way for a long-term spending settlement which delivers a series of key British objectives, the leader of the UK's Conservative MEPs said today. Richard Ashworth was speaking after Finance Ministers sitting in the EU Council decided by qualified majority that in theory they would allow the extra spending towards unpaid bills run up last year by member states - including Britain - on EU projects. The European Parliament, which has co-decision powers with the Council on budget matters, has insisted that key negotiations on the EU's long-term budget blueprint to 2020 could go no further until the matter of the so-called "draft amending budget" for 2013 was settled. The UK along with Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands were in a minority in opposing the extra spending, but Mr Ashworth said today that what might appear to be a backward step could help deliver a better long-term deal for Britain in the seven-year Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF). In announcing its new position, Council said the extra money for 2013 would only be finally approved once MEPs agreed final terms on the long-term budget. Mr Ashworth said: "If this measure is finally agreed next week between Parliament and Council, it should mean Britain achieving its key goals for the long-term budget - including the Prime Minister's historic deal for the first ever budget reduction. We should see the seven-year budget fall by 3.3 per cent and a lid firmly put on the idea of the EU raising its own funding through own-resources taxation. "All of those are worth striving for and it is now incumbent on the Parliament to accept the current position and stop coming back with demands for more cash." As a key UK negotiator in the Parliament on budget, the South East MEP has been concerned that the political log-jam over the 2013 budget could threaten the prospects of a sound seven-year agreement. He said: "The issue of the amending budget has been a cloud over our talks, but it could prove to have a silver lining if it helps deliver the right agreement on MFF. This puts a good long-term deal in sight."
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Baroness Thatcher: tribute from Conservative MEPs' leader Richard Ashworth
Posted,4/8/2013 4:00:00 PM
Baroness Thatcher: tribute from Conservative MEPs' leader Richard Ashworth
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Battle lines drawn to resist fresh EU budget cash grab
Posted,3/27/2013 1:00:00 PM
Conservative MEPs today pledgedto fiercely resist a bid by The European Commission to add an extra €11.2bn tothe EU budget for 2013.
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EU budget: MEPs must never be allowed to raise their own taxes
Posted,3/13/2013 1:00:00 PM
EU budget: MEPs must never be allowed to raise their own taxes The European Union's political elite must forget once and for all the idea of so-called "own-resources" tax-raising powers, Conservative MEPs cautioned today. The stern warning came as the European Parliament in Strasbourg debated plans for the EU's long-term budget deal - and members of the largest party groupings across the political spectrum continued to demand their own tax-raising powers. MEPs are expected in the long term to accept the strict spending ceiling won by David Cameron at last month's European summit in Brussels. Nevertheless a majority of MEPs approved a resolution today seeking to modify the deal - and they continued to pursue the right for the EU to tax citizens directly. Richard Ashworth, leader of Britain's Conservative MEPs and a key UK negotiator on the long-term budget, said: "To go down this road would be to change fundamentally the relationship between the EU and its member states. "Right now the money which funds the EU's projects and its administration comes from the treasuries of its member states. Those who dream of a European super-sate want it to be able to bypass national Governments and raise its own money through own-resources measures. "But there is a saying that he who pays the piper calls the tune. So long as the EU's funding comes from its member states it is reasonable for them to expect to call the shots. "If that ever changed, the roles could be reversed and the whole nature of the EU would be transformed from an organisation run by and for its member states to a relationship in which the EU was the master. That is something which we could never tolerate and which should never be contemplated." end
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Tories lead push to endorse budget agreement
Posted,3/11/2013 4:00:00 PM
Conservative MEPs will this week lead the drive to secure European Parliament backing for David Cameron's historic deal on the EU's long-term budget. The Prime Minister confounded doubters when he emerged from a crunch meeting of the European Council in Brussels last month with a groundbreaking agreement. He secured the backing of his fellow leaders for an agreement on long-term funding which would see EU spending fall for the first time in its history. Under the Lisbon Treaty, however, the European Parliament has 50 per cent co-decision powers within the Council on key issues - and some MEPs have vowed to scupper the deal. This week the battle of wills moves to Strasbourg, where MEPs will begin a series of debates and votes on the Council deal. Conservative MEPs last week took the initiative by tabling a motion to rally support for the agreement. It notes the that the spending ceiling of the so-called Multi-annual Financial Framework is only one aspect of future budgeting and calls for efficient and effective spending which targets funds at the regions and states that need it most. It also calls for measures to address urgently the failures that have led the Court of Auditors consistently to refuse the EU's accounts a clean bill of health because of concerns over potential mis-spending and lack of transparency. As well as demanding better management of the budget and spending, Conservatives will call for the budgeting period to run over five years or less instead of seven. This would more-closely match the cycle of European Parliament elections and Commission appointments so that each new administration could be held properly responsible for its own spending. Richard Ashworth, leader of Britain's Conservative MEPs and lead negotiator on budget for Conservatives in the Parliament, said: "This was an outstanding deal by our Prime Minister and a fantastic achievement. It is right for Britain and for Europe. "Not only does in bring down overall spending by €34 billion - and €90 billion less than the Commission was demanding - but it also manages to boost key spending on competitiveness and research, the areas that will help us out of stagnation. It achieves that by at last diverting money away from agriculture spending, despite the opposition of France and its farmers. "The question of what the money is spent on is just as important as the overall size of the budget - if not more so. We will be pushing to secure the backing across parliament which the Council agreement deserves. In doing so we will be pressing for a budget which points the EU's toward the global challenges of the present and future instead of the problems of the past. "The national leaders who struck this agreement have each had to seek the approval of their people at the ballot box and will have to do so again. It is not for MEPs to contradict that mandate."
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