VOA慢速英語:EU Agrees to 1.3 Trillion Budget

[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, [00:02.99]this is the Economics Report in Special English. [00:07.43]European Union countries have struggled to find common ground [00:13.06]as they worked out a budget agreement in Belgium this month. [00:18.18]European leaders finally had success last week. [00:23.07]They agreed on the European Union's multiannual financial framework, [00:29.54]or MMF, for the period from 2014 to 2020. [00:37.16]The MMF sets the EU's total spending at $1.3 trillion. [00:46.03]That represents one percent of the total income of EU members. [00:52.25]Members agreed to reduce total spending [00:55.45]by over three percent for the period. [00:58.33]This is the first time spending cuts have been made. [01:02.91]European Council President Herman Van Rompuy [01:06.89]spoke after the agreement was announced. [01:09.43]He said the compromise budget may not be perfect. [01:13.97]But he said it should help all EU members. [01:19.00]"Our support to the most vulnerable people remains intact, [01:23.38]so does our external action funding even despite the crisis. [01:28.22]This budget will allow Europe to keep engaging on vital global issues [01:33.65]such as climate change, nuclear safety and development aid." [01:38.58]German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the long-term spending plan. [01:43.61]She said the agreement makes policy more predictable [01:53.87]and enables members to act in the interest of Europe. [01:59.10]Some EU leaders have been calling for greater spending controls [02:04.47]in their home countries. [02:06.52]They wanted the EU to show that it is willing to cut costs. [02:12.34]British Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the agreement. [02:17.97]Before the two-day meeting, he had threatened to veto the budget [02:23.75]if there were no steps toward cutting spending. [02:27.58]"So I think the British public can be proud [02:29.48]that we have cut the seven-year credit card limit [02:33.51]for the European Union for the first time ever. [02:36.35]And as a result the EU's seven-year budget [02:39.09]will cost less than one percent of Europe's gross national income. [02:42.98]That is also for the first time ever." [02:45.02]The European parliament still must approve the measure. [02:49.30]But some parliament members say it fails to deal with problems [02:54.97]like the sharp wealth differences between rich and poor. [03:00.31]Guy Verhofstadt from Belgium is a member of the European parliament. [03:06.08]He does not think the measure will pass. [03:09.13]"I don't think that we shall have a majority [03:12.66]in the parliament to approve this proposal... [03:23.92]we are creating a big deficit of more than 50 billion euros [03:29.01]and that is not acceptable." [03:29.96]If approved, the measure will affect 28 European Union countries. [03:35.24]The EU says Croatia is expected to join the group in July.

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