Published : Nov. 23, 2012 - 19:53
British Prime Minister David Cameron (left) speaks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (center) and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday. (AP-Yonhap News)
BRUSSELS (AP) ― The leaders of Britain and France staked out starkly different visions of the European Union’s future Thursday, leaving a summit on the EU budget teetering on the brink of failure after the first day.
“I have my doubts that we will come to an agreement,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel after a chaotic day of bilateral negotiations and a belated, short joint session of the 27 leaders.
While British Prime Minister David Cameron is seeking to keep payments into EU coffers as low as possible, French President Francois Hollande called for sustained subsidies for farming and development programs for poorer nations.
With each of the 27 nations having the power of veto over the 2014-2020 budget, the summit negotiations could stretch over the weekend, perhaps without result.
Cameron voiced the concerns of several countries that do not want to see an increase in the bloc’s spending plan at a time when many member states are cutting budgets at home.
“No, I’m not happy at all,” Cameron said about EU President Herman Van Rompuy’s offer to cap spending for 2014-2020 at 972 billion euros ($1.25 trillion) in spending commitments.
“Clearly, at a time when we’re making difficult decisions at home over public spending, it would be quite wrong ― it is quite wrong ― for there to be proposals for this increased extra spending in the EU,” Cameron said.
Van Rompuy’s revised proposal late Thursday did not yield further to Cameron’s demands for cuts, keeping to the same total.
The EU budget primarily funds programs to help farming and spur growth in the bloc’s less developed countries, and it amounts to about 1 percent of the EU’s gross domestic product.
Hollande and Merkel said another summit meeting might be necessary.
“We should not consider that if we don’t get there tomorrow or the day after, all would be lost,” Hollande said.
“Germany wants to reach a goal, but there might also be the need for yet another stage,” Merkel said.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, supports more spending, arguing that cross-border initiatives will help create the economic growth and jobs that the bloc of a half-billion people needs, particularly during a financial crisis that has pushed some countries into recession.
The amount of work Van Rompuy has to do to bring the conflicting views closer together was highlighted earlier Thursday as the bilateral meetings preceding the summit overran, forcing the opening discussions to be delayed by 2 1/2 hours.
Bilateral talks will resume early Friday, with a first joint session set for noon to see if a compromise is within reach.