The European Commission has deployed humour in its bid to get the UK presidency to back down on reported cuts for new member states in its 2007-2013 budget proposal.
"Those responsible [for the budget] should not behave like the Sheriff of Nottingham, taking from the poor to give to the rich", commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said on Wednesday (30 November).
The analogy is based on a medieval British folktale in which a wicked sheriff taxes poor peasants into starvatio...
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Already a member? Login hereAndrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.
Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.