Sunday, February 10, 2013

E.U. Budget Cuts: David Cameron’s Strategy

The budget deal reached by the state governments represented in the European Council in Feburary 2013 would mark the first decrease in the E.U.’s seven-year budget , pending approval by the European Parliament. According to The Telegraph, “the deal sets members’ total payments to the EU for 2014-20 at €908.4 billion (£770 billion). Payments were £800 billion for the previous seven-year round.” This was precisely what the conservative British prime minister at the time, David Cameron, wanted.  “I think the British people can be proud,” he said after the deal had been reached. “Every previous year these deals have been agreed, spending has gone up,” he added. “Not this time.”  Beyond the relevance of the prime minister’s rather obvious small-government fiscal-conservative ideology, his “victory” in the European Council is in line with his strategy to keep his state in the Union.

Britain's David Cameron finally at home in the E.U.? Negotiating with other state officials at the European Council. Source: thepressnews.com
 
The full essay is at Essays on the E.U. Political Economy, available at Amazon.