Monti: Veto on EU budget if Union will not support growth

The prime minister thinks it would be inconsistent to speak of recovery and then do not use all the tools to promote it Last night a huge (paid) crowd in Brussels with Verhofstadt, Cohn-Bendit and Goulard

Italy could say “no” to a project of the European budget that is not ambitious enough on growth. Mr. Mario Monti has sparked applause from the 2,100 people present in the Henry Le Boeuf hall in Brussels, who were there to attend his Brussels meeting where last night it was presented, for the umpteenth time, the book written by himself and the French liberal MEP Sylvie Goulard on “Democracy in Europe”. To open the meeting a brilliant Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian Prime Minister for nine years, one of the most popular politicians in the kingdom. Mr. Daniel Cohn-Bendit, member of the ecological party, and a famous journalist, were also present. A nice little staging, created around an Italian politician in Brussels who is still seen as one of the few who can help Europe emerge from the tunnel, as some sort of “Italian miracle”. Certainly it is seen as an “anti Berlusconi” figure, as (whether voluntarily or not) the Commission Vice President Olli Rehn pointed out in front of the Parliament on Tuesday.

At the European Council to be held on February 7th and 8th “We will look for an agreement – said Mr. Monti – there would be no coherence between speaking about growth while at the same time having a budget that is not on the same line. No indulgence then, but on certain expenses some carry out economies of scale, while others are absolutely necessary to develop the internal market … then of course you have to take into account the conditions of each member state, but I’m not sure that it would be irresponsible not to agree on a budget draft for 2014-2020 that is not exactly as expected. “The Prime Minister came to Brussels with this hat, not only with that of the candidate. So yesterday met with the President of the Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and today saw the President of the Council Herman van Rompuy in order to to explain this Italian position on the fundamental theme of the EU budget for the next seven years. There is a flurry of meetings in Europe these days: Mr. Monti today also sees Ms. Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande on Sunday, while the German chancellor will see the President of the Government of Spain Mariano Rajoy before going, next Wednesday, to see Mr. Hollande, in order to define the last details before the 7th and 8th of February extraordinary session of the summit.

Maybe Mr. Renato Brunetta exaggerated, when, yesterday, he wondered if “Professor Monti is using Europe improperly, to legitimize the election campaign? If so it would be a very serious matter, and capable of being stigmatized by the President of the Republic. “Meetings with European political and institutional leaders is routine – a routine animated by the Heads of Government of the Councils. But the evening, the most important showcase wasn’t for free (six euros full price, four euros the reduced ticket) and so attended only by those who were really interested in knowing what the speaker had to say.

The multi-annual budget of the EU and the preparation of the next European summit were the main topics discussed with Mr. Barroso, especially considering that the budget will be the only item discussed in the summit agenda. Although approximately 94% of the trillion we are talking about then go back to the single member states, on this issue the game is played exclusively between Europhiles and Eurosceptics. There are issues of principle. It will be a tough encounter, to the point that van Rompuy has also anticipated its start, as that agreement which failed to be reached last November (mainly due to the opposition of Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, trying to cut to the maximum expense) will have to found again. Italy is trying to defend its position, which is for a cut of the contributions, but would also like to see such contributions better spent – in a much more profitable way. This desire may correspond to a serious difficulty – since in many regions can spend no more than 30% of European contributions. The first proposals saw for Italy a cut on the ten billion, later reduced to six or so and here Monti is at work to polish some more.

 Lorenzo Robustelli