Prime Minister David Cameron went to battle Thursday to protect Britain’s cherished EU rebate against feared cuts, raising concerns at an otherwise uneventful European Union summit held to fight the continent’s jobs crisis.
Arriving at the summit venue, Cameron pledged to protect the UK rebate obtained by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s against any attempt to claw back a refund Britain says amounts to 3.1 billion sterling a year.
“It’s absolutely essential that we stick to the deal that we reached in February and that we protect the UK rebate,” he said, referring to a February proposal on the bloc’s hotly-contested trillion-euro 2014-2020 budget.
Diplomats said Cameron’s discussion on the issue with EU president Herman Van Rompuy delayed the opening of the summit talks and European Parliament president Martin Schulz worried that the British premier’s stand could derail a last-minute compromise on the seven-year budget clinched earlier Thursday.
“I think Prime Minister Cameron is never happy when we discuss the European budget,” Schulz told a press conference.
Should Cameron disagree with the compromise 960-billion-euro budget for the next seven years “then it will fail. This morning’s agreement will be useless.”
EU diplomats played down the row however, one saying that Britain thought the latest EU budget compromise, which still has to be agreed by the European Parliament, was “a good deal”.
British concerns over the rebate “has all been sorted”, said a source close to the issue speaking on condition of anonymity. “Cameron wanted to make sure the calculations were correct, it was a technical problem.”
The issue was linked to a reform in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, which would have repercussions on the budget. Britain has a rebate on spending on rural development in new member states.
Cameron crusade over UK rebate ruffles EU summit
