By Bruno Waterfield - 10th February 2004
Romano Prodi's heir will inherit a “fierce” debate over the EU's future finances, the outgoing European Commission president has predicted.
Prodi is returning to domestic Italian political battles in October leaving an, as yet unnamed, successor a traditional EU legacy in the form of a bitter row over cash.
“This debate will be quite fierce I’m sure. It will be quite lengthy over time,” Prodi said.
His comments came after the commission published ‘financial perspectives’ for 2007 to 2013.
The controversial proposals, if agreed, will see a 24 per cent hike in EU budgets and an extra €28 billion in national contributions extracted from penny pinching European capitals.
Pleas from the commission for more money are opposed by Europe’s ‘big six’ contributors to EU coffers – Germany, Britain, France, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands – heralding a possible two-year round of skirmishing.
A new commission president will in November take charge of a new enlarged EU executive and take up Prodi’s cudgel against Europe's heavy hitters.
And the former centre left Italian prime minister had Calabrese words of advice for whoever assumes his mantle.
“If you act like a sheep the wolf will eat you,” he said cryptically.
“I would tell my successor that if you want to be president of the commission the minimum budget you need is what we have proposed."
"If not you will be running an institution which will always be failing. And I don’t think my successor would like to take on that job.”
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