EU hypocrisy over austerity

 

The Greek Parliament has voted narrowly in favour of an austerity programme, which will enable a new bailout from the EU and IMF. This cash is designed to tackle the national debt and reinvigorate the economy. But the threat of default remains, and rioting continues on the streets of Athens. A similar fate looms large over other member states. So the European Commission will be suitably austere in their own Budget proposals for 2014-2020 then?

Of course not. They are proposing a whopping 5 per cent increase in the EU’s finances, five times the official EU inflation rate, and worth up to £100 billion. This will produce a mammoth €1 trillion budget. For the United Kingdom this will mean increasing our already substantial contribution by £1.4 billion every year for the next seven years until it reaches £23.1 billion. In addition to this a new funding formula will be negotiated, with the aim of further reducing the UK’s rebate. The rawest of deals, at a time when necessary spending reductions are being made within domestic departmental budgets.

Your money, or your life!

It doesn’t stop there. The EU wants its own tax powers to raise revenue independently. This includes a new EU-wide tax, a tax on financial transactions, and greater power over green taxes. This will only increase the ever increasing cost of living, crush economic growth, and punish motorists. Even Jean-Claude Trichet, head of the European Central Bank, has spoken out against such plans by describing them as “putting sand in the machine” of Europe’s financial hubs, including the City of London. The UK already has a large, complex, and unfair tax burden without the EU imposing a new layer of distortive taxes on people.

These proposals are scandalous. And only promising a bailout to Greece on the premise of passing an austerity budget is a bit rich, considering the Court of Auditors has repeatedly refused to sign off the EU accounts for 16 years. As we all know, there are many, many areas where the EU could cut its spending radically. For example, Dr Lee Rotherham’s report ‘From thespians to death rays’ exposed numerous examples of waste in EU expenditure, such as €2 million to ‘define God’, and €81,345 spent on a European Masters in Drug and Alcohol studies. Tired and broken structures will be propped up too. Under the new budget proposals the CAP will consume a grand total of €386.9 billion. This programme of agricultural protectionism has wasted billions, created wine lakes and dumped surplus products on struggling third world markets. It must end instead of further subsidies being pumped into the market. In the long term, removing trade barriers would be an effective way to slash our aid budget too, allowing farmers in developing countries to enter the market.

But sadly none of this is in the least bit surprising. The Government must resist these increased budgets and work for reduced contributions to save taxpayers’ money. If that involves flat-out refusing to hand over the money, then that’s the answer.

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/eu/2011/07/eu-hypocrisy-austerity.html