The EU is in disarray as member-states push back against its next long-term budget, which will require significantly higher payments once Britain leaves.
Typically, the EU budget does not rise above limits “equivalent to 1 per cent of the EU’s Gross National Income”, according to The Telegraph — but Brussels is attempting to appropriate funds equivalent to 1.08 per cent of GNI — a 9.3 per cent increase — despite the bloc losing its second-biggest net contributor.
“The European Commission just presented an EU Budget the size of 28 member-states but we are only 27 member-states to finance it,” complained Lars Rasmussen, the Prime Minister of Denmark.
“A smaller EU as a result of Brexit should also mean a smaller budget,” added Mark Rutte, Prime minister of the Netherlands earlier, insisting “this proposal is not an acceptable outcome”.
“After Brexit, our aim must be for the EU to be slimmer, more economical and more efficient,” agreed Sebastian Kurz, leader of Austria’s recently elected conservative-nationalist coalition government.
As net contributors to the EU budget, the countries led by the three heads of government will all be hit hard by the budget increase — but Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the unelected Commission which acts as the bloc’s executive, dismissed their concerns.
“It is normal that prime ministers, without knowing the intricate details of our proposals, react in such a way, they always do,” he sneered.
The Commission is also receiving pushback from low-immigration, eurosceptic-leaning member-states in Central Europe, in response to changing the budget funding formula so countries which do not subscribe to so-called “EU values” or submit to arbitrary diktats on the rule of law lose cash.
“This is not the first time… EU institutions, and/or persons related to former EU institutions try to politically blackmail us by threatening with cutting funds or introducing fines for allegedly not falling in line with ‘European values’,” commented Hungarian government spokesman Zoltán Kovács.
“It is a traditional method of the European left-liberal political circles,” he added.
“We will not accept arbitrary mechanisms which make for fund a made to order instrument of political pressure,” agreed Konrad Symanski, Poland’s EU affairs minister.