EU-ECONOMY/ECOFIN-ROUNDTABLE Pay up in instalments, EU to tell Britain on disputed bill, as finance ministers meet in Brussels

Record ID: 861777

  • Title: EU-ECONOMY/ECOFIN-ROUNDTABLE Pay up in instalments, EU to tell Britain on disputed bill, as finance ministers meet in Brussels
  • Date: 7th November 2014
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NOVEMBER 6, 2014) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL BUILDING SIGN READING (Italian): 'ITALIAN PRESIDENCY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION' / FLAGS
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • City:
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7YYGMDG6PQ8R5CENZ16R09SNU
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: EU finance ministers told Britain on Friday (November 7) that the only way to resolve a row over a surprise budget bill to Brussels would be to pay in interest-free instalments, officials said, but Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne insisted the bill was unacceptable.
    The row has become a highly contentious issue in Britain in the run-up to a general election in May, putting Prime Minister David Cameron under pressure from Eurosceptics at home and diminishing British support for the country's continued membership of the European Union.
    Cameron, who reacted angrily to the issue at a summit in Brussels last month, has found sympathy from Italy, Germany and France because the bill comes down to a historical statistical review stretching back over a decade.
    Italy, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, presented the instalment compromise at a ministerial meeting in Brussels, seeking to give British Prime Minister David Cameron a way to save face over the 2.1 billion euro ($2.6 billion) bill.
    Interest on the late payments would also be waived.
    But Osborne's European counterparts and EU officials say it is out of the question to let Britain, Europe's third largest economy, contribute less, despite Cameron's promise to the British parliament that will not pay "anything like" the full amount.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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