PM: Latvia could veto unfavorable EU budget

RIGA - If Latvia's needs are not respected, the country may have to veto the European Union's multiannual budget, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis (Unity) told the LNT morning show "900 sekundes" today.

However, the country should not get carried away with such methods, since each member state has its own priorities and opinions regarding the budget and such practices could make it more difficult or even impossible to have the budget approved, pointed out the prime minister.

As reported, yesterday, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics participated in the General Affairs Council's meeting in Brussels, where the principal subject for discussions was the EU's Multi-annual Financial Framework for 2014-2020. The ministers debated the draft EC conclusions prepared by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

The discussions on the eve of the Council revealed an informal division between member states: on the one hand, net contributors, who believe that the Rompuy’s proposal to decrease the budget does not go far enough and further cuts are needed, and, on the other hand, the supporters of cohesion policy, who consider the proposed cuts to be too drastic and bound to have a negative effect on the EU's economic growth potential, LETA was informed by the Foreign Ministry's Press and Information Department.

In addition, almost each country outlined its own "red line." "Although Latvia is ready to constructively seek a solution towards achieving an agreement, the possibility to agree seems remote at the moment, because Rompuy's proposal is unacceptable for Latvia, and Latvia cannot vote in favor of it," explained Rinkevics.

Rinkevics told his colleagues that, for Latvia to support the agreement on the EU budget, the national allocations under cohesion policy should be ensured at least at the current level and direct payments paid out in Latvia - at the level that guarantees fair competition for Latvian farmers in the EU's single market. "An agreement will not be possible unless these needs are respected," emphasized Rinkevics.