EU nations agreed Friday to use controversial plans from Brussels as the basis for talks on the bloc's next budget, though austerity-focused governments have blasted proposed hikes. "The vast majority of member states - 24 out of 27 -- accepted our proposals as a good starting point for negotiations," EU budget chief Janusz Lewandowski told reporters after talks called by Poland, which currently holds the bloc's rotating presidency.
"They consider the budget plan as something that can be amended, but not turned upside down," he said following the informal, closed-door meeting. "We've cleared the most important first hurdle," Lewandowski said. Lewandowski declined to identify the holdouts. Sources said they were Britain; Sweden, which wants less farm spending and more on research; and Hungary, which fears losing a slice of funds that help poorer economies catch up with their richer neighbours.
The Sopot talks marked only a first step in a gruelling process that will run into 2012, but Lewandowski said the non-binding decision was crucial. In the kinder economic climate of 2004, governments shot down an initial budget plan, he noted.
The European Commission - the EU's Brussels-based executive body - unveiled a draft budget for 2014-2020 in June. It faced a hail of fire for planning a five-percent rise from the previous seven-year cycle, increasing spending to 1,083 billion euros ($1,552 billion).
David Lidington, Britain's EU affairs minister, said such a rise could not be justified in hard economic times. London wants "a real terms freeze, at most," he said. "I actually think that a real terms freeze is lot more modest than what a lot of European countries are implementing domestically," he underlined.
Despite not rejecting the proposal outright Friday, fellow "big three" players France and Germany also insisted Brussels be frugal. "In the current climate, we need to be coherent about policies on the domestic front and those outside," said France's EU minister Jean Leonetti, while Germany's Werner Hoyer called for "a freeze, and not an increase".
Brussels' plan resets EU priorities, for example by reducing farm funds in favour of infrastructure investment and a greener economy. Poland and other ex-communist nations that joined the EU in its 2004 "big bang" expansion from 15 members want a level playing field for their farmers, who they argue do not get a fair share of funds for the sector. The draft focuses strongly on bolstering cross-border energy, telecoms and transport grids, to streamline integration in the world's biggest market.
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