- Title: LUXEMBOURG: BRITAIN AND FRANCE CLASH OVER EU BUDGET
- Date: 14th June 2005
- Summary: (BN15) LUXEMBOURG (JUNE 12, 2005) (POOL) 1. MV CAMERAMEN AND PHOTOGRAPHERS IN MAIN HALL OF MEETING PLACE 2. CLOSE-UP OF BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY JACK STRAW IN DISCUSSION 0.07 3. MV LUXEMBOURG FOREIGN MINISTER JEAN ASSELBORN 0.15 4. SCU STRAW IN DISCUSSION WITH A MINISTER 0. 5. ASSELBORN JOINS THE TWO MEN AND TAKES STRAW AWAY 6. SCU ASSELBORN AND STRAW IN DISCUSSION 0. 7. SCU GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER JOSHKA FISCHER JOINS ASSELBORN AND STRAW 8. FISCHER IS HEARD SAYING "What about the rebate." AND LATER."I want my money back" 9. WIDE OF GROUP 0.57 10. MV PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION JOSE BARROSO SMILING AND WAVING AT OTHER MINISTERS; SCU ASSELBORN READING DOCUMENTS; SCU DOCUMENTS; ASSELBORN 1.17 (BN16) LUXEMBOURG (JUNE 12, 2005) (REUTERS) 11. MV BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY JACK STRAW TALKING TO MEDIA 1.29 12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY JACK STRAW SAYING: "Germany is the largest overall contributor to the EU budget so it has a major interest in seeing a reform of those programmes, the CAP being the largest, which contribute to the current inefficiencies in budgetary spending" 13. STRAW TALKING TO REPORTERS 14. (SOUNDBITE) (English) STRAW TALKING ABOUT THE UK DEMANDING IT NOT HAVE ITS REBATE CANCELLED SAYING "It is sometimes necessary to speak in rather clear terms so that we all recognise the scale of this choice. We've hada a big shock for the European Union in the last three weeks with the results of the two referenda. We know that there isprofound concern for citizens, not just in the Netherlands and in France but across the European Union about how the European Union operates, insuring that it should operate better, more sensitively, doing only those things which cannot be done at a national level. now these are big challenges. Whether its possible for the European Union to raise to these challenges by the end of the week remains to be seen" 15. STRAW TALKING TO REPORTERS 2.48 16. SLV FRENCH MINISTER RESPONSIBLE FOR EUROPEAN AFFAIRS, CATHERINE COLONNA AT NEWS CONFERENCE 2.53 17. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH MINISTER RESPONSIBLE FOR EUROPEAN AFFAIRS CATHERINE COLONNA TALKING ABOUT THE BRITISH REBATE ISSUE SAYING: "Once again there was a rather large unanimity around the table asking for a real reflection and new directions regarding the rebate which was according to the British twenty years ago and which is no longer justified today" 18. REPORTERS 19. (SOUNDBITE) (French) COLONNA TALKING ABOUT THE JUNE 16-17 SUMMIT, SAYING: "There will have to be a conclusion (an agreement) because the Union needs to have a budget for 2007. The Luxembourg presidency's point of view is that there was a window of opportunity under its presidency and therefore it tried, and continues to try, and she will show this again tomorrow, to get the twenty five around a common decision. You know that after the Luxembourg presidency comes the British presidency and it will not be any easier for her to conclude an agreement than under the current one and maybe, it will be more difficult" 20. COLONNA AT NEWS CONFERENCE 3.47 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 29th June 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LUXEMBOURG
- Country: Luxembourg
- Reuters ID: LVACNAVMO3UYOPYUZPRHG6CT7ZT
- Story Text: Britain and France clash over EU budget.
Britain and France clashed over the long-term
European Union budget on Sunday (June 12) with London
seeking to reopen a 2002 deal ring-fencing EU farm
subsidies, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and Paris
demanding a timetable for the end of the British rebate.
Most of the bloc's 25 foreign ministers at the final
round of budget talks before a summit this week backed the
French line that the agricultural pact could not be
reopened, and that Britain's annual refund should be
reduced or scrapped.
There was little sign of compromise before the June
16-17 summit due to clinch a budget deal that some leaders
hope will "rescue Europe" and reassure financial markets
after the double defeat of the EU constitution by French
and Dutch voters.
Speaking before the European Foreign Ministers'
meeting, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw reaffirmed London
would not hesitate to use its veto to protect the rebate.
After putting Britain's view forward at the round table
meeting Straw said there were 6 countries seeking a
reduction of the EU budget to 1 percent of the total
national income across the 25 EU member states.
Britain appeared earlier to have won some guarded
sympathy from Germany, normally France's closest EU ally.
Asked if it was feasible to renegotiate the farm deal
which froze payments at the current level until 2013,
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told reporters:
"Everyone has to move, and if everyone is ready to
compromise, we can make it."
"Germany is the largest overall contributor to the EU
budget so it has a major interest in seeing a reform of
those programmes, the CAP being the largest, which
contribute to the current inefficiencies in budgetary
spending," Straw said
Straw justified using a veiled threat to EU unity
earlier when he said Europe now had a choice to make and
added that Britain would not hesitate to use its veto in
order to keep its rebate.
He said if there was no resolution at the June summit,
by default the EU as a whole would have made one choice and
"that would be sad".
"It is sometimes necessary to speak in rather clear
terms so that we all recognise the scale of this choice.
We've hada a big shock for the European Union in the last 3
weeks with the results of the two referenda. We know that
there isprofound concern for citizens, not just in the
Netherlands and in France but across the European Union
about how the European Union operates, insuring that it
should operate better, more sensitively, doing only those
things which cannot be done at a national level. now these
are big challenges. Whether its possible for the European
Union to raise to these challenges by the end of the week
remains to be seen," he said.
French European Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna
retorted that the EU's Common Agricultural Policy had
already been subjected to budget discipline in 2002 and
reformed in 2003 and "an agreement is an agreement".
She also said that the British rebate was no longer
justifiable and that there was a unanimity of opinion
amongst the EU countries on this issue.
"Once again there was a rather large unanimity around
the table asking for a real reflection and new directions
regarding the rebate which was according to the British 20
years ago and which is no longer justified today," Colonna
said.
Luxembourg, which holds the EU presidency, is seeking a
compromise between the bloc's executive Commission, which
wants member states to dig deeper into their pockets to
fund the costs of enlargement, and a group of six major net
payers, which are demanding big cuts in planned expenditure.
Failure to agree a deal now would delay vital
investment plans in the new east European member states
from 2007 because financial programming has a long lead
time.
Most diplomats say an agreement would be impossible
under Britain's six-month presidency from July, since
London could not be an honest broker on its own rebate.
That means an accord would have to wait until 2006 if there
is no deal this month.
"There will have to be a conclusion (an agreement)
because the Union needs to have a budget for 2007. The
Luxembourg presidency's point of view is that there was a window of
opportunity under its presidency and therefore it
tried, and continues to try, and she will show this again
tomorrow, to get the 25 around a common decision. You know
that after the Luxembourg presidency comes the British
presidency and it will not be any easier for her to
conclude an agreement than under the current one and maybe,
it be more difficult," Colonna said.
Several EU leaders called for the summit to save
Europe from crisis after French and Dutch voters rejected
the charter designed to make the enlarged bloc function
efficiently in referendums that undermined confidence in
the bloc.
But Straw made it clear that if there continued to be a
perceived clash amongst EU countries, the crisis could only
deepen.
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