Downing Street Says » European Council meeting/UK Rebate

Asked if there was a Government response to President Chirac’s comments about the British rebate, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that if anyone cared to type the words : President Chirac; rebate; a Summit into Google they would find that President Chirac had said similar things before at summits, but the British Government’s position had not changed. If there had been a transcript of the proceedings from the European Council from the last 24 hours, it would show that it was not mentioned once, neither at dinner last night, nor at this morning’s session.

Put to the PMOS that this issue had to be sorted out, "one way or the other" in the next year or so, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister, and the Foreign Secretary had said we were quite prepared to argue our case, but given the differential contributions, not least from France itself, we believed that the rebate was justified.

Asked for clarification about Jack Straw’s comments about using the veto to defend the rebate, the PMOS replied that our position was very clear. He said again that we believed the rebate was justified and we would argue for it in discussions. It was a matter of fact that we had a veto over any decision on this matter.

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In other words, the rebate is up for grabs. There’s no need to argue for it if you have a veto you intend to apply, you just say ‘No’.

Is there anything he wouldn’t stoop at to curry favour?

Perhaps he plans to hold it out as a bargaining chip to be used when the UK referendum says ‘No’ to the constitution and he needs to buy off the inevitable push to have us sidelined.
Comment by Mr Pooter — 24 Mar 2005 on 11:26 am | Link
Talking about Google, John Prescott has disappeared.
Comment by colonelmad — 25 Mar 2005 on 12:06 am | Link
What?

Try googling for ‘two jags’.

http://society.guardian.co.uk/disabilityrights/story/0,7999,528324,00.html
Comment by Mr Pooter — 26 Mar 2005 on 8:11 am | Link
I’m not sure that the rebate is justified any more. If it is, then only on the grounds that continental agriculture needs reforming. (The reason we receive relatively little E.U. funding is that much of it goes on agricultural support, and our faring is mostly efficient.) Given recent events in U.K. farming, perhaps this is changing, and maybe we would receive more if we switched to more environmentally friendly but less financially efficient forms of farming…?
E.U. funding is also usually given to supplement, not replace, national funding, so perhaps our various governments’ unwillingness to pay up for anything is more to blame for the scarcity of E.U. money in Britain than E.U. policy itself. Can anyone confirm/refute this?
Besides, if we are serious about Europe, I would have thought we should acknowledge that the new countries (whose membership we championed)need the money far more than we do.
Comment by Ian Stock — 28 Mar 2005 on 11:26 am | Link
PLEEASE HELP THE NHS ARE NOT WHAT IT SEEMSTHE LIES ARE NOT TRUE THEY ARE NOT TELLING YOU THE TRUTH PLEASE CALL ME ON 07850 219819 01420 470928 0420 475330 I HAVE THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR THIRD WORLD NHS THAT ARE BEING PUBLISED ARE NOT TRUE
PLEASE HELP MY HUSBSAND ARE IN THEIR HANDS
Comment by SALLY BEECH — 7 Apr 2005 on 1:58 am | Link

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» Wednesday, March 23, 2005

European Council meeting/UK Rebate

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