Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 20 February 2020
'Voodoo statistics' floated as EU budget battle looms

By LORNE COOK recent years. So, individu-
Associated Press ally, countries are paying
BRUSSELS (AP) — After al- less than 1% of their annual
most two years of sparring, earnings.
the European Union was The commission says bud-
girding itself Wednesday for get spending should be
perhaps the final round of seen as a contribution fee
the bloc's traditional bud- to one of the world's big-
get slug-fest, a potentially gest wealth-generating
long and fiery summit to organizations. It says the
thrash out Europe's spend- advantages that countries
ing plans for the next seven get back as members of
years. the largest trading bloc on
Leaders from the 27 nations the planet are worth about
are gathering in Brussels on 6% on their gross national
Thursday to pore over the income.
budget of more than 1 tril- Still, at over a trillion eu-
lion euros ($1.08 trillion) for ros, it's not exactly pocket
2021-2027. The bottom line: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Sanna Marin, Prime Minister of Finland, address change.
are they ready to put their the media during a press conference as part of a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Ahead of the negotiations,
money where their mouths Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020. the 27 member nations are
are when it comes to Euro- Associated Press roughly divided into two
pean policy ambitions? main camps. The so-called
With Britain gone from their als while defending spend- liament President David In a scathing indictment, "Frugal Four" of Austria, Den-
ranks, the leaders want ing decisions in Brussels Sassoli said Tuesday, after Sassoli said the proposal mark, the Netherlands and
to prove that Europe can to taxpayers back home. his latest round of discus- "risks leaving Europe lag- Sweden versus the "Friends
still forge ahead toward Slick number crunching, sions with EU Council Presi- ging not only behind its of Cohesion," a group of
brighter horizons and con- creative accounting and dent Charles Michel, who own objectives, but also mainly central and eastern
front major challenges like what one senior EU official will chair the extraordinary other actors on the interna- European nations who like
climate change and an called "voodoo statistics" budget summit. "We are tional scene, such as China to see their contributions
ever-evolving digital econ- are sometimes employed still far from an acceptable and the U.S." He urged EU return home in the form of
omy driven by new tech- to make the sale. proposal." leaders to improve the of- "cohesion funds" that help
nologies and new ways of It's not just about con- After a series of tete-a- fer "because otherwise the develop Europe's poorer
doing business. vincing reluctant mem- tetes with national lead- parliament will not be able regions.
But Brexit has left them with ber countries to stump up ers in recent weeks, some to accept it." Ahead of the summit, the
a sizable budget hole; a funds. The European Parlia- lasting three hours, Michel In the great scheme of frugal four, who would like
funding gap that runs to ment must also ratify any proposed last Friday to set things, it's not a big slice of the budget to drop as low
10-12 billion euros a year, or final budget agreement the budget at 1.074% of national income. The EU as 1%, rejected Michel's
about 75 billion euros over and the EU lawmakers are EU gross national income. budget is supplemented offer in a Financial Times
the seven-year period. not happy. The parliament wants 1.3%, with customs revenue and newspaper op-ed, saying
The leaders' challenge is to "At the moment, we re- while the EU's powerful ex- money from antitrust fines that in light of Brexit "we
set aside enough funds to main €230 billion ($248 bil- ecutive arm, the European — and the EU has levied simply have to cut our coat
achieve lofty European ide- lion) apart," European Par- Commission, prefers 1.11%. billions worth of those in according to our cloth."q

200 vehicles involved in

pileup south of Montreal

trapped Wednesday after- were strong winds ... and, about 50 vehicles were
noon and authorities were suddenly, you couldn't see able to drive away from
trying to stabilize a diesel anything,'' Bonnardel sad. the collision, but 75 others
spill before extracting them "And then, well, the pileup would need to be towed.
from the wreckage. started.'' Numerous vehicles were
Those two people are con- Two snow removal op- mangled, including several
sidered to be in serious erations took place in the large trucks.
condition. area in the hour before the About 150 people were
The crash occurred around incident, he noted. taken by bus to a near-
Emergency personnel gather at the scene following a multi- 12:30 p.m. on a stretch of Bonnardel said the high- by community center
vehicle crash on the south shore of Montreal in La Prairie, Que-
bec, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020. Highway 15 that runs along way isn't known for particu- for treatment and to be
Associated Press the St. Lawrence River. The lar safety issues and 65,000 picked up.
pileup of vehicles stretched vehicles use the south- Tremblay said police crash
MONTREAL (AP) — Cana- reports of deaths but Que- for about a kilometer. bound part of it on a daily experts will study what
dian police said Wednes- bec provincial police said Transport Minister Francois basis. caused the pileup.
day whiteout conditions about a dozen people Bonnardel told reporters The transport minister said A school bus was also in-
that came about suddenly were sent to hospital with in Quebec City the pile- he'll await the results of an volved in the pileup, but
most likely triggered a mas- minor to serious injuries af- up took place in an area investigation before decid- none of the high school
sive pileup involving about ter the midday crash in in where heavy winds come ing if any particular mea- students on board were
200 vehicles south of Mon- La Prairie, Quebec. off the river, creating sud- sures need to be taken. injured, said Andree Lafor-
treal. Firefighters from La Prairie den blizzard-like conditions. Police spokesman Sgt. est, the province's acting
There were no immediate said two people were still "People were driving, there Stephane Tremblay said public security minister.q