EU demand extra £1.7bn from UK

[Derek]

"We will not pay" = "We will pay £667 million next year and gift UKIP an open goal for the election campaign."

http://bbc.in/10E1dRT

[solitaire]

The very fact that the EU accounts have not been signed off for so many years shows that the system is corrupt. Any more money that we contribute would probably go the same way. Cameron says that we won't pay the £1.7 billion by the due date, and now Osborne is talking about a phased payment!
How can anyone believe anything they say at all.
All this has done is to increase the UKIP support a little more. The sooner we are out of the EU the better.

Originally Posted by Derek

"We will not pay" = "We will pay £667 million next year and gift UKIP an open goal for the election campaign."

http://bbc.in/10E1dRT

The devil is in the detail, but at present this does look like a useful deal.

These corrections to member states' contributions aren't a novel idea. They have been around for years and we have benefited from them in the past. The problem has always been the scale of the demand and the payment deadline.

The Treasury said it would look for a legal means of reducing the amount and it seems to have found one, by successfully arguing that the UK's rebate should be applied to the calculation (actually I would have thought it obvious that it should have been - I'm not sure what's gone on here, whether someone's been trying to pull a fast one in Brussels, or whether HMG has been asleep at the wheel).

Coupled with that, they seem to have convinced other treasury ministers and heads of government that you can't go demanding the equivalent construction cost of three sizeable NHS hospitals on about eight weeks' notice. The introduction of interest-free instalments and a much delayed settlement date seems to be a new idea, although again, really it should have been obvious that such a mechanism might be needed if ever an unusually large payment demand came in.

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by Daniel Hannan

Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan suggested that the deal achieved by the Chancellor may not represent any reduction to the amount being demanded from the UK.

He said: "The EU sticks us with a bill. Ministers double it, apply the rebate, return to the original figure and claim victory. We're meant to cheer?

"Britain is worse off in absolute terms, but a straw man has been knocked down."

As I said before it's possible that the bill has made to look bigger to allow the Tories to claim a success weeks before the Rochester by-election.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Damien

As I said before it's possible that the bill has made to look bigger to allow the Tories to claim a success weeks before the Rochester by-election.

If that's true then it shows the EU for the corrupt pile of dog poo it is, the sooner were out of it the better.

[Osem]

Given that we're one of the biggest net contributors and a healthy market for all manner of Euro-stuff, I think the EU would prefer to keep us in and continue to take advantage of it. For that reason and in typical negotiation style, I can see why it'd suit the Europhiles to issue all sorts of tough talk only to then show their readiness to be reasonable and 'compromise' after the event.

[Dave42]

bill paid

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Dave42

bill paid

Yep and that's why i don't trust a word Cameron says when it comes to the EU.

[Gary L]

I heard Dave doing his stern, angry TWIT voice on the radio earlier.

he sounds like one of those blokes who say to the Missus "I told him! I told him you don't mess with me or you get a punch in the nose! and he said he's very sorry and ran away!"

when what really happened is he paid the man the money.

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Gary L

I heard Dave doing his stern, angry TWIT voice on the radio earlier.

he sounds like one of those blokes who say to the Missus "I told him! I told him you don't mess with me or you get a punch in the nose! and he said he's very sorry and ran away!"

when what really happened is he paid the man the money.

but if he didn't pay then we wouldn't be eligible to have all of Eastern Europe's dross come here and steal our jobs and houses and over populate our schools and bring the NHS to its knees ,you need to remember that without this dross we are nothing

The EU is built on altruistic lines but managed by self servers..

I don't care if it's crafty accounting or not ,at the end of the day we are not paying 1.7 billion ,we can pay half that sum over 2 instalments next year so really we have nothing to moan about .

[Mr Angry]

Smoke & mirrors by Osborne and Co.

More financial mismanagement on a colossal scale.

"Under the initial plan, the UK was due to get a 1bn euros rebate in 2015-6 but it will be allowed to bring that forward to the second half of 2015 to reduce the surcharge.

But its 2016 rebate will be 1bn euros smaller as a result."

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Mr Angry

Smoke & mirrors by Osborne and Co.

More financial mismanagement on a colossal scale.

"Under the initial plan, the UK was due to get a 1bn euros rebate in 2015-6 but it will be allowed to bring that forward to the second half of 2015 to reduce the surcharge.

But its 2016 rebate will be 1bn euros smaller as a result."

So we still get shafted. Another gift to UKIP.