According to reports this evening in Cadena Ser, Spanish president José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero plans to present an ultimatum to Blair during his visit to London tomorrow. He is expected to tell the British Prime Minister that Spain is not prepared to approve any EU budget which does not guarentee the right of Spain to receive funds up until 2013.
The latest proposal made by the British presidency of the EU was for Spain to receive funds until 2010. An outright rejection of the proposal by a member state represents a veto. Spain wants the inevitable reduction of EU funds it has received each year ever since it joined the European Union to be a progressive process.
According to the Cadena Ser, Rodriguez Zapatero will also use his meeting with Blair to make a call for more solidarity to be shown by EU states towards the Eastern European countries, to ask for special attention to be paid to immigration policies and to call for greater investment in research, development and innovation.
The meeting between the Spanish and British PMs tomorrow was arranged after the proposal announced by the British presidency of the EU last Monday was overwhelmingly rejected by the European Commission and the vast majority of member states who accused Blair of showing a lack of solidarity with the newest poorer EU member states.
Timothy Garten Ash of the Guardian offers the following outlines for a possible compromise: Britain, in order to get a deal, should offer a bit more off its rebate. Other rich west European countries should be squeezed to contribute a little more. France should also agree to an EU budget review in 2008 or 2009. This would set the course for a further reduction of CAP spending, and send an immediate signal to the Doha round of the world trade talks.
New members from central and eastern Europe should accept a small reduction in their budget allocation, though less than the cut proposed by Britain.
Then, probably some time in the early hours of next Saturday morning, after two days of ill-tempered haggling, everyone should go away for Christmas feeling equally unhappy. That is the European way of happiness.
