Blair rejects EU compromise
Tony Blair tonight rejected a compromise deal aimed to secure the European Union’s annual budget.
The British Prime Minister’s official spokesman said that the proposal, put forward by EU summit chairman Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg Prime Minister, failed to establish a clear link between Britain’s budget rebate and wider reform of the EU finances.
He said that the deal also included an “unacceptable” request for additional money from Britain.
Mr Blair's rejection of the proposals came at the end of a day of intense pressure for Britain to give up its annual €4.5bn rebate on its EU budget contributions.
The British Prime Minister’s spokesman insisted that Britain had always been prepared to talk about change to the rebate “in the context of a process of reforming the EU budget”.
However, he said that the words used by Mr Juncker were “capable of ambiguity” and did not tie reform of the rebate to the wider changes Britain wants.
He also expressed concern that Britain would have been forced to fork out further contributions to the EU under the proposals.
“There was a request for additional money which is unacceptable to us,” he said.
