The calls to reduce the budget are unfavorable for Lithuania, which receives the highest EU support per capita.
"We have observed certain changes in the way paying countries think. You are probably aware of the recent clear requirement to slash the EU budget by at least 100 billion euros, by a tenth of what the EC has proposed. Over the past month, the positions have changed, and the paying countries admit that the EU budget is an investment budget, which promotes economic development and creation of jobs," Šemeta told a news conference in Brussels.
"In my understanding, the change is very important, of course, not everyone thinks that way, however, this is the tendency," he said.
Amid the savings schemes launched in many European countries, the calls to slash the EU budget in the new financial perspective starting in 2014 are popular in the biggest countries that make the biggest contribution to the EU budget. Lithuania and other poorer members of the organization have said that the budget and aid to member-states should stay the same.
2012 06 29
Paying countries seem less inclined to cut EU budget
Europe is getting less enthusiastic about major cuts in the proposed new budget of the European Union (EU), notes Lithuania's Algirdas Šemeta, European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud.
Algirdas Šemeta / „Reuters“/„Scanpix“ nuotr.
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