The European authorities are optimistic that they will be able to reach an agreement with the United Kingdom on the multiannual budget 2014-2020 at the summit of 27 scheduled today and tomorrow in Brussels, despite British Prime Minister David Cameron's threat to veto. According to what the Financial Times writes today, Cameron would in fact be ready to accept a spending ceiling of 940 billion euros from 2014 to 2020. "We think Cameron got what he wanted," a European source told the City newspaper .
Senior European diplomats have warned of the risk that the summit which opens today at 20pm could go on all weekend. Eight countries – Austria, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden – have indeed called for budget cuts, for various reasons and to varying degrees.
Italy has also threatened to veto it if the deal is not fair. To a question about the possibility of vetoing it, two days ago the Minister of European Affairs Enzo Moavero replied: "Yes, if it were an agreement that we did not deem fair for our country and for our fellow citizens, if it were unbalanced and did not correspond to the criteria of solidarity and efficiency”.
