A group of European Union countries led by Germany opposed on Tuesday plans to spend 5 billion euros ($6.5 billion) of unused EU funds on energy links and the Internet. Diplomats and officials said the plan, spearheaded by the executive European Commission, would probably go before national leaders at a summit in March to try to reach agreement on moves aimed at stimulating the economy.
Germany said it opposed the project because the way the Commission wanted to finance it would require amending the EU's long-negotiated budget for 2007-2013. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said individual member states should be responsible for such investment rather than the EU. "We have our own programmes and don't see that the Commission needs to be active as well," he told reporters.
The Commission wants the money to be used to finance new energy links and broadband Internet access in the 27-nation EU as part of the bloc's plan to fight the economic downturn. "The energy projects proposed by the Commission are of geopolitical importance, especially in today's economic environment," EU Budget Commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite told Reuters after EU finance ministers discussed the issue.
"Reaching a decision on financing the 5 billion euros is about political will. Do we want these energy projects or not?" she added. Diplomats said Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Sweden prefer unused funds from the EU's 120-billion-euro annual budget to return to national coffers. One diplomat said Poland on Tuesday dropped its opposition to the project.
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