European Council

George Eustice Excerpts

Monday 22nd October 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

What I have done before these budget negotiations is work together with other European leaders to set out what I think is acceptable. In the letter that we published on 18 December 2010, we said that

“payment appropriations should increase, at most, by no more than inflation over the next financial perspectives.”

In these negotiations we are dealing with taxpayers’ money and we are already a massive net contributor to the European Union. It is right to set out your position and stick to it, knowing that you have a veto if you need to use it.

[George Eustice (Camborne and Redruth) (Con)]

May I commend the Prime Minister’s decision to stick to his guns and show consistency over the budget by insisting on a real-terms freeze? Does he agree that we will never drive reform in the EU if we continue to give it a blank cheque and allow it to spend whatever it likes?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Even if there is tough control over the European budget, as I say there should be, there is plenty of room to ensure that the cohesion countries receive the support that they need as their economies develop, to crack down on the administrative central costs, and to continue to reform the common agricultural policy and reduce the agriculture budget, which still makes up about a third of EU spending. There is plenty that can be done to get more money out of what is already spent and to use it more wisely.