Britannia Radio

30 March 2009 Recession Won't Stop Taxpayers' Money Pouring Into EU The European Commission last week confirmed that its massive stream of income from taxpayers is gold-plated. It will not be reduced because of the recession now strangling the world's economy. Dalia Grybauskaite, the Moscow-educated Budget Commissioner from Lithuania, confirmed in a written answer to Ashley Mote MEP that "when customs duties and VAT-based revenue fall, the GNI-based own resource is automatically called in at a higher rate, so that total EU budget revenue remains sufficient to match total EU budget expenditure." Decoded, that means a collapse in the two sources of EU income based on each nation state's customs duties and a percentage of VAT collected will not result in a shortfall in EU income. The total liability of each of the 27 countries remains the same. Each country has to find the difference between what was estimated originally to be their share of total EU expenditure, and what is now missing, regardless of the damage to their own economy and public finances. Ashley Mote's original question asked what urgent plans were being made to reduce the EU's present and future budgets in the light of falls in all three revenue streams as the depression takes hold. We now know the answer is 'none'. In other words, as the world falls into an economic blackhole, the EU expects to spin blithely past it. No doubt they are on their way to another planet! To respond to, or comment on this Email, please email ashley.mote@btconnect.com