Cameron denies backroom deals in EU budget battle (AFP)

France, Germany, UK, others urge EU budget freeze
The letter, addressed to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, said that the European Union's joint Budget should not grow faster than the rate of Inflation in the bloc's post-2013 long-term budget. "European public spending cannot be exempted from Member States' considerable efforts to get their public spending under control," the letter, which was released by the French presidency, said. The EU's 27 countries will start talks in mid-2011 on the long-term budget, which runs from 2...

Freeze EU budget, says Cameron
guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 December 2010 17.17 GMT David Cameron speaks during a final media conference at the EU summit to discuss the Eurozone's Debt crisis. Photograph: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex Features David Cameron today claimed leadership of a concerted campaign to curb EU spending over the next decade, demanding that Brussels' Budget up to 2020 be frozen at the level of 2013. In his biggest EU policy initiative since becoming Prime Minister, Cameron said that Chancellor Angela Merkel of...

Britain, France, Germany demand EU budget freeze
Three of the European Union's big four states on Saturday demanded a freeze in the EU Budget, saying Brussels cannot carry on spending more money as countries fight to sort their finances out. Britain, France and Germany, backed up by Finland and the Netherlands, told European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso there should be a real terms freeze at 2013 levels, as the EU next year begins negotiations for the 2014-2020 period. The letter, signed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Ger...

France, Germany, UK, others urge EU budget freeze
Paris | Sat Dec 18, 2010 5:13am EST Paris (Reuters) - Britain, France, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands called on Saturday for the EU Budget to be frozen until at least 2020, in a joint letter to the European Commission. The letter, addressed to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, said that the European Union's joint Budget should not grow faster than the rate of Inflation in the bloc's post-2013 long-term budget. "European public spending cannot be exempted from member sta...

France, Germany, UK, others urge EU budget freeze
Paris | Sat Dec 18, 2010 5:13am EST Paris (Reuters) - Britain, France, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands called on Saturday for the EU Budget to be frozen until at least 2020, in a joint letter to the European Commission. The letter, addressed to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, said that the European Union's joint Budget should not grow faster than the rate of Inflation in the bloc's post-2013 long-term budget. "European public spending cannot be exempted from member sta...

Merkel Wins Again
Even as Angela Merkel continues to suffer defeats within her own governing coalition in Germany, she has once again imposed her will on the EU, forcing Austerity rather than additional Bailouts to deal with the ongoing fiscal crisis in the Eurozone. FT's Peter Spiegel calls, "The amendment, which must be ratified by all 27 Member States, allows for eurozone countries to create a permanent rescue fund in 2013, the most concrete change in EU institutions since the Debt crisis began threatenin...

Cameron angers EU allies with call to cut costs
David Cameron provoked a backlash from smaller European Union countries last night by proposing a tight cap on European Union spending until 2020. Although he won the backing of France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, the Prime Minister was accused of "grandstanding" by eastern European nations who are normally seen as Britain's natural allies. Labour accused him of pandering to Tory Eurosceptics. At a two-day summit of EU leaders in Brussels, Mr Cameron launched a pre-emptive strike ahead...

Cameron wins agreement on EU budget freeze
David Cameron says he has won the backing of France and Germany for a freeze in the European Union Budget from 2013 to 2020. To view this video you will need to have Adobe Flash installed. Speaking at an EU summit in Brussels, the Prime Minister said other countries would also sign the text on the Budget freeze, but he did not name them. The wording will be published tomorrow and, if approved by other EU countries, will mean the EU's spending rises only in line with Inflation from 2013-20. Mr C...

Twitter Users Publicly Mock EU Officials During EU Meeting
Brussels — It was meant to be an effort to plug Twitter users into the conversation at the summit of European power. Instead it ended in very public embarrassment. European Union officials fell into a trap after scrolling tweets from the Social Networking site on big screens at a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels this week. Twitter users saw opportunity and used keywords to post tweets Thursday mocking Scandals involving Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The tweets quickly disapp...

Cameron should halt this NHS gamble | Editorial
David Cameron learned in opposition that voters are not easily persuaded to trust the Conservative party with the NHS. So he came into government with two pledges aimed at allaying suspicion: spending on healthcare would be protected and there would be no scary meddling with the service. He is in danger of failing on both counts. On the first promise, rising Inflation could erode the value of sums "ringfenced" for health, meaning that Budgets would be cut in real terms. Shortly after Labour lead...

European Leaders Agree to a Permanent Rescue Fund
Casting aside their differences over how to contain the continuing Debt crisis, Europe’s leaders on Thursday pledged to do “whatever is required” to defend their embattled currency. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany talking with George Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece, in Brussels on Thursday. They also agreed to create a permanent support fund for the Euro after 2013 — something they hope will be a first step to calming the markets. But even as they moved to res...

Germany, France to form new plan to help eurozone
BRUSSELS (AP) - EU leaders have agreed to work for closer economic cooperation amid worries about high Debts in countries that use the struggling euro. French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will present new proposals to reduce differences among the economies that use the euro. Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme says, "Monetary union requires an economic union, nobody can avoid this destiny." Both spoke after a summit of the leaders of the 27 EU nations ...

EU agrees new debt plan, but near-term help needed
BRUSSELS (AP) - Even though EU leaders have agreed on a new rescue system for future Debt crises, rating agencies' increasingly pessimistic view on some euro nations' ability to handle debts added pressure Friday to come up with more short-term measures to ease the crippling market turmoil. EU leaders decided not to beef up the their existing Bailout fund at a summit in Brussels, as they wrap up a punishing year that has rocked the world's confidence in their ambitious experiment to share a cur...

Cameron announces EU budget freeze
David Cameron today announced he has joined forces with France and Germany to demand a real-terms freeze in the European Union Budget until the end of the decade. The Prime Minister will tomorrow publish a joint text with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders setting out their demand for restraint in EU spending. ...

George H W Bush supports New Start treaty
America put George H W Bush through hell. It's hard for a Military type with his character to let off the gas. So he kept going to bat for the good old U.S. of A. I remember watching old videos of when he first started his career in government. He had to practice fighting the urge to look at nit picky reporters with that "you're lucky I'm doing this" look. On second thought. After watching the folding of the arms and other body language hints. I think this young confident GHWB might have been tr...

Gbagbo told to stand down now
Published: Dec. 17, 2010 at 9:04 PM ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Pressure on the embattled president of the Ivory Coast increased Friday, with France and the United States threatening sanctions. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the country is at a "dangerous turn." Supporters of Alassane Ouattara, accepted internationally as the winner of the Presidential Election, clashed Thursday with Troops backing President Laurent Gbagbo, with at least 10 people killed, Amnesty Internationa...

The Best World Photos of the Week
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, speaks with Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at an EPP party meeting ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010. Disagreements over how to fight Europe's Debt crisis deepened as a two-day summit of European leaders began on Thursday, meanwhile violent Protests and uncertainty have fueled investors' concerns. When the dust settled, Chancellor Merkel won agreement to change the Lisbon Treaty to head off future currency crises. (AP Phot...

Inflation isn't a worry it's a sign of catastrophe averted
Alistair Darling: still vocal in the economic debate. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters Unemployment rising, poor trade figures, renewed concern about Inflation… the latest run of UK economic statistics, in contrast to Germany's, is not exactly what Doctor Osborne ordered. And, with an imminent rise in VAT and cold-blooded plans for widespread Public Sector cuts in employment, the picture could become a lot grimmer. First let us consider inflation - 3.3% against a target of 2%...

Merkel Suffers Bundesrat Defeat as Opposition Rallies
Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered the first parliamentary defeat of her Second Term as the opposition blocked a landmark welfare-overhaul package in the upper house, or Bundesrat. Failure to push the Legislation through marks the first time an initiative from Merkel’s government has been blocked since the coalition parties lost their majority in the upper chamber after a state election defeat in May. Lacking a majority and facing a united opposition, Merkel ma...

Chairman Cameron's regime is not a million miles from Mao | Andrew Rawnsley
I put it down to Tony Blair. Also to Margaret Thatcher. And to Mao Tse-tung. To understand this government, you need to appreciate the debts that it owes to these three influences: Labour's triple election-winner, the Conservatives' most radical postwar Prime Minister, and the Chinese dictator responsible for the deaths of more of his own people than any other leader in history. To be fair to the coalition, it is not their ambition to replicate the body count heaped up by the Communist party of ...

UN rejects Gbagbo demand peacekeepers leave I.Coast
UN chief Ban Ki-moon rejected a demand that UN peacekeepers leave Ivory Coast, heightening the international confrontation with contested leader Laurent Gbagbo. Ban also condemned attacks on UN Troops in the West African nation and warned of "consequences" for those behind such action. The UN mission, UNOCI, "will fulfil its mandate and will continue to monitor and document any Human Rights violations, incitement to hatred and violence, or attacks on UN peacekeepers," Ban was quoted as saying ...

David Cameron mocks parliamentary expenses body as a four letter word
David Cameron looking prime ministerial in Brussels days after shocking some Tories with his locker room banter. Photograph: Thierry Roge/Reuters David Cameron has a sharp sense of humour and often peppers his conversation in private with words that would make his mother, a highly respectable retired JP, blush. But is his locker room banter making our Dave a tad un-prime ministerial? Some Tory MPs were slightly surprised this week when the Prime Minister referred to the parliamentary expense...

'Great anger' over deportation case
Prime Minister David Cameron has spoken of his "great anger" at a tribunal ruling preventing the Deportation of a failed asylum-seeker who killed a 12-year-old girl in a hit-and-run driving incident. Mr Cameron said he hoped that the UK Border Agency would be able successfully to appeal against the ruling by the Upper Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber on Iraqi Kurd Aso Mohammed Ibrahim. Ibrahim was told on Thursday that he can stay in the UK despite his conviction for driving while ...

Spain unions threaten strike over pension reform
Madrid | Sat Dec 18, 2010 2:31pm EST Madrid (Reuters) - Spanish unions staged marches across the country on Saturday to Protest at Austerity measures and threatened another general strike if the government does not back down on plans to raise the Retirement Age. Unions, which held a general strike on September 29, are upset over the government's plans to extend the Retirement age to 67 from 65 as it steps up reforms to calm market fears over its finances. "Sixty-seven marks the boundary for a...

Spain unions threaten strike over pension reform
MADRID - Spanish unions staged marches across the country on Saturday to Protest at Austerity measures and threatened another general strike if the government does not back down on plans to raise the Retirement Age. Unions, which held a general strike on Sept. 29, are upset over the government’s plans to extend the Retirement age to 67 from 65 as it steps up reforms to calm market fears over its finances. “Sixty-seven marks the boundary for an agreement or not ... (if the plan goes a...