European spirit goes to the dogs

With unusual clarity EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso has blamed a small group of member states for the failure of the budgetary negations, saying they were not prepared "to negotiate in a European spirit". This spirit threatens to disappear completely, the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza warns: "The fiasco in the negotiations for the EU Budget 2011 shows that we are witnessing the beginning of the battle for power within the community. If the British standpoint prevails we (that is, we and the entire Union) will come up against serious problems. Poland should therefore back the European Parliament in this dispute. ... The true threat lies in the future. If this conflict ends with a defeat for the European Parliament and the victory of a handful of governments led by the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark, we will face the gradual dismantlement of the EU."

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