EU Commission wants 6.8% budget increase

The EU Commission wants another 6.8% increase in its budget this year - an increase of £1bn for the UK alone.

The EC says it needs the money to meet spending commitments which is interesting because that would suggest they have a 6.8% public spending deficit which is 2.8% over the arbitrary one-size-fits-all target of 3% that they are enforcing for all member states.  The Dutch government has just collapsed because they couldn't get through the necessary spending cuts to get their deficit (which is not far off the EU Commission's deficit) down to the EU's limit of 3%, shouldn't Emperor Barroso fall on his sword as well?  We can but hope.

Luckily, Cameron says that it's an unacceptable increase and so does the rabid europhile leader of the Tory MEPs, Richard Ashworth, so their plans are thwarted.  That's a Cast Iron Guarantee™.

UKIP MEP, Marta Andreasen, said:

[It's] selfish, unrealistic and insulting to taxpayers already under the cosh. This demand is cloud-cuckoo land stuff. Have the European Commission finally completely lost their grip on reality?

I think the answer is, they lost their grip on reality some time in the 60s.