01:11Belgium: 'UK's €2.1 bln EU invoice to be halved by rebate,' confirms commissioner
The European Commissioner for Financial Programming confirmed at a press conference in Brussels on Friday that a €2.1 billion (£1.7 billion) budget surcharge would be halved for Britain by the time it came to be paid. Kristalina Georgieva said this is because a rebate would cancel out much of the original bill by the time it came to be paid. She also outlined measures to mitigate the effects of such budgetary irregularities in the future.
The budget surcharge caused considerable distress when it was presented to the British Prime Minister David Cameron at a meeting on October 23. Other EU member states, such as the Netherlands, Malta, and Cyprus were also asked to pay unusually large sums in addition to their normal contribution to the EU budget.
01:11The European Commissioner for Financial Programming confirmed at a press conference in Brussels on Friday that a €2.1 billion (£1.7 billion) budget surcharge would be halved for Britain by the time it came to be paid. Kristalina Georgieva said this is because a rebate would cancel out much of the original bill by the time it came to be paid. She also outlined measures to mitigate the effects of such budgetary irregularities in the future.
The budget surcharge caused considerable distress when it was presented to the British Prime Minister David Cameron at a meeting on October 23. Other EU member states, such as the Netherlands, Malta, and Cyprus were also asked to pay unusually large sums in addition to their normal contribution to the EU budget.