EU budget adopted

It is going up by 2.9 per cent and the MEPs have accepted it. There is the odd snag from our point of view.

First of all, there is the question of what the money is to be spent on. Here is an interesting little item:

One of the biggest budget increases is 100m euros in extra funding for the Palestinians and the Middle East peace process.

Oh goody. More of our money to go on funding bloodthirsty kleptocrats in Gaza and on the West Bank, not to mention children's programmes with psychotic mice, killer bees, demented rabbits and Jihadi teddy bears.

Then there is another item of news. The budget is the budget but that is not the end of the story.

MEPs and the EU governments, which are collectively called the Council, have not yet agreed on a contingency fund to deal with emergencies, nor on financing of the Iter nuclear fusion project.

And that is before the Commission presents "a formal proposal by mid-2011 on "own resources" - ways in which the EU can boost its own finances". Ahem, is Wikileaks going to publish any of this?