Straw: Rebate is justified
The Foreign Secretary has said that the UK’s EU rebate is still justified and that the UK will block any attempts to remove it.
The UK’s rebate – worth over £3 billion a year – was negotiated by Margaret Thatcher in 1984.
It recognises that the UK gets less out of the EU in terms of subsidies, notably farm subsides, than other countries in particular France and Italy.
Even with the rebate, the UK is the EU’s second biggest net contributor.
But, with the accession of 10 new countries to the EU other members argue that the UK’s rebate is increasingly unfair. European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has said he believes the rebate is no longer justified and Swedish state secretary Lars Danielsson said that Mr Straw was in a “minority of one” in fighting for the rebate to continue.
The rebate is up for renewal next year and current EU presidency holder Luxemburg want the issue resolved before the UK takes over the presidency of the EU in July. It has tabled a discussion paper proposing a freeze on the rebate level, and then a gradual reduction.
Chancellor Gordon Brown has previously said that the rebate was “non negotiable”, a position echoed by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in Brussels yesterday.
Mr Straw said that even with the rebate the UK paid more than comparable nations, saying: “The rebate was justified in 1984 when it was agreed. It is fully justified today and we will not hesitate to use our veto if that is necessary.”
The UK is instead pushing for a reduction in EU spending, and is opposing a request from the EU Commission for an increase in its budget.
Mr Straw added: “The fundamental way in which we reduce the burden on all member states is by budget discipline; by ensuring that the budget is fixed at one per cent of the total national income of the European Union rather than 200 billion euros more as the commission proposes”.
