UK's EU rebate is still 'completely justified'
Posted, September 06, 2010 @ 00:00
Strasbourg, 6th September 2010 - Responding to comments made by EU Budgets Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski that the UK's EU rebate is "no longer justified", Timothy Kirkhope MEP, Conservative leader in the European Parliament, said:
"The rebate is still completely justified.
"We cannot afford to give away our taxpayers' money in exchange for a vague promise of agricultural reform in the future. Tony Blair gave away seven billion pounds in 2005 and got absolutely nothing in return.
"Commissioner Lewandowski will find he is in for a tough negotiation if he starts from the assumption that the UK will budge on this issue. Instead of focusing on scrapping the rebate perhaps the Commissioner should put all of his efforts into reducing the EU budget so that we achieve better value for taxpayers' money."
Notes: the commissioner made the comments in an interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt. He said: "the British rebate has lost its original justification..... The structure of the EU budget has changed substantially."