Germany and France lead EU budget concerns
http://bit.ly/2HQIR6D | Germany has voiced concern on fair burden-sharing in the next EU budget, while France is outraged by proposed cuts in farm aid.
The bloc's most powerful states joined other complaints from northern countries, after the European Commission unveiled its post-Brexit finance plan on Wednesday (2 May).
"We are ready to take responsibility for strengthening the European Union - but this requires a fair burden-sharing of all member states," the German foreign and finance ministers Heiko Mass and Olaf Scholz said in a joint statement in reaction to the proposals.
The commission spending plan for 2021-2028 "would considerably increase the additional burden on Germany" by EUR10bn a year, they added.
Germany, the biggest net contributor to the EU treasury, is also reluctant to use its wealth to pay for deeper monetary union, for instance, by creating a eurozone deposit guarantee scheme.
Its warning on burden-sharing echoed discontent in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden - wealthy states who will also see their EU contributions go up after Britain leaves the bloc next year.
"It is completely wrong that you want to increase the budget even though the number of member states falls from 28 to 27 ... We'll fight really hard to reduce the bill," Danish finance minister Kristian Jensen said.
Building on earlier comments by the Danish prime minister, Jensen said Copenhagen did not want EU cohesion funds, which subsidise poor regions in mostly eastern Europe, to grow.
Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok added his voice to the Danish PM's hostile reaction.
"The current proposal is unacceptable for the Dutch government. The EU income is declining due to departure of the United Kingdom. If income falls, we will need to spend less," he said.
Swedish finance minister Magdalena Andersson flat-out rejected the commission's proposal that her country should increase its contribution by almost EUR1.5bn a year.
"This is an unreasonable proposal. We cannot accept this," she said.
"Sweden has contributed an enormous amount, partly as a net contributor to the European Union and partly because we have taken disproportionate responsibility for the 2015 refugee crisis," she added.