EU heads accused of Thatcherism

The president of the European Parliament, Mr Jose Maria Gil Robles, appealed to the EU's overwhelmingly socialist leaders not to slash the EU budget. He accused them of Thatcherism, warning that key community policies would be threatened.

In his traditional pre-summit address to leaders, Mr Gil Robles said: "We cannot have more union on the basis of less budget. We cannot even maintain current community policies if we keep cutting back the budget.

"Legend says that Spain's medieval hero El Cid won a battle after his death. Thatcherism appears to be performing a similar feat - its slogan of `I want my money back' and its demand for a Union that is nothing more than marketplace pure and simple are being adopted by governments which should, in theory, be opposed to such notions."

He defended the parliament's controversial proposals to introduce a common salary for MEPs. This would increase Irish MEPs' salaries by £16,500 a year while curbing some of the generosity of the expenses regime.

The current system under which MEPs receive the same salaries as members of national parliaments resulted in "intolerable discriminations between MEPs", Mr Gil Robles said.

He got a mixed response. Both Mr Goran Persson of Sweden and Mr Poul Nyrup Rasmusson of Denmark said they welcomed the expenses reform but that the elevated salaries would be completely unacceptable.

The issue was referred to the foreign ministers.

Mr Gil Robles accused finance ministers of capitulation to the larger states for their decision on how the euro zone would be represented at international forums.

In reducing the Commission's role to that of technical support, he said, "I fear that once again we are giving the claims of certain member-states to privileged status within the Union priority over the need to ensure that external action is both co-ordinated and effective.

"The Union does not need an aristocracy of G7 and IMF members. What it needs is a Community system of representation within these forums," he argued.