Cameron to Push for EU Budget Freeze at Meeting

October 27, 2010 at 11:52 AM
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The European Union is planning on instituting a 6% budget increase at the European summit meeting on Thursday in Brussels, but Britain is not happy about it and its prime minister plans to put a stop to it.

David Cameron intends to go so far as to link Germany's demand for a new treaty to his own demand for either a budget freeze or even a cut, according to a report in The Guardian, where he was quoted as saying, "It is completely irresponsible and unacceptable." He told the Daily Mail, "We need an alliance to block increases. I think the French will also be keen on budget restraint and we should push this extremely hard. It should be a freeze or a cut."

Germany's Angela Merkel has been demanding a new EU treaty governing the euro, one that puts the Greek bailout and the additional bailout funds "on a legally watertight treaty basis." She fears challenge of the funds by the German constitutional court if there is no formal set of rules that specifies consequences for nations who break the eurozone's financial limits.

But Cameron, who called the European parliament's vote in favor of the planned budget increase "outrageous," intends to call a halt by blocking the new treaty.

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