Heading for the cliff

Enough already. Just when we thought that EU leaders had agreed a budget, the EU Parliament wants to  renegotiate it. What are the chances of it being agreed by the end of the year, in order to stop a funding shortfall? Slim to none, in Calton's book. Looks like the MEPs are suffering from fiscal cliff envy - anything the US can do, Europe can do better. We should never have signed the Lisbon Treaty, which is what gave the EU Parliament the power to throw a spanner in the works. Bad idea. It is not inconceivable that all David Cameron's efforts to impose some sort of restraint on EU spending will be overturned by free-spending, anti-austerity MEPs as they rush, lemming-like, towards the cliff. Bring on the EU referendum Dave!