(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Britain claimed victory yesterday in a budget battle with the European Union, saying it would pay only half of what Brussels had demanded, but EU officials said payment had merely been delayed and Eurosceptic critics accused ministers of deception.
"We have halved the bill, we have delayed the bill, we will pay no interest on the bill," Chancellor (finance minister) George Osborne said as he left a meeting with his EU peers. "The bill, instead of £1.7bn will be around £850m," he told reporters.
Osborne took no questions and left officials to explain that the reduction in the surcharge of £2.1bn was due to delaying payment from December 1 until next July and September, when two instalments will be offset against an annual rebate that London has long received on its contribution to the EU budget.
The dispute, which escalated as Prime Minister David Cameron struggles to fend off anti-EU rivals ahead of an election in May, began last month when a review of national income data going back over a decade found Britain had underpaid its share and would have to pay in £2.1bn by December 1.
Cameron, surprised by the figures during a summit in Brussels two weeks ago, refused to pay and won sympathy from fellow leaders over the size of the short-notice demand, on which interest penalties would be applied for late payment. But having promised the British parliament he would pay "nothing like that amount", the prime minister was faced with a political conundrum as EU states insisted the sum be paid in full.
Kristalina Georgieva, the EU budget commissioner, told a news conference the historic adjustment to national income meant Britain would still have to pay the additional amount it owed but that would be offset by a similarly increased rebate.
"As a result of the adjustment, the UK has to pay more but also as a result the UK rebate will go up. Preliminary calculations show it will be around ¤1bn," she said of the increase in the rebate next year when payments are made.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs meetings of euro zone finance ministers, said Osborne had not negotiated a cut in Britain's payment, adding: "This is the application of a very old agreement negotiated by (then-prime minister) Margaret Thatcher, that Britain gets a certain discount. No discount has been awarded."
Cameron's Eurosceptic opponents seized on what some saw as an effort to massage the figures: "Osborne trying to spin his way out of disaster," tweeted UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, whose party is riding high in opinion polls. "UK still paying full 1.7bn, his credibility is about to nose dive."
The rebate on the ¤2.1bn payment, worth some ¤1bn, was due to be refunded in 2016, but Britain will now receive this money ahead of time, allowing it to claim it is paying less.
Asked why Osborne was presenting the application of the rebate - an automatic annual process - as a success for his negotiations, British officials said it had not been clear to London that the rebate would apply to the surcharge. It was also unusual to pay out the rebate in the same year as the payment.
Cameron's critics, however, were unimpressed.
Daniel Hannan, a Eurosceptic from Cameron's Conservative party in the European Parliament, tweeted: "The EU sticks us with a bill. Ministers double it, apply the rebate, return to the original figure and claim victory. We're meant to cheer?"
Cameron has said the demand for payment made it harder for him to campaign for Britain to stay in the EU in a referendum he wants to hold in 2017 if he is re-elected next year.
The latest YouGov poll on the EU referendum issue showed 41 percent of Britons would vote to leave the EU and 38 percent would vote to stay. That compared to a slight majority in favour of staying in before the budget dispute erupted.
Three decades ago, Britain won a rebate on its budget contributions which means it gets back two thirds of its net contribution to the EU budget of the previous year.
London justifies that on the grounds that its economy benefits less than founding EU states such as France from the large portion of the budget devoted to farming. In 2014, the British rebate is worth ¤5.4bn.
Georgieva said new legislation would be passed, applying to all countries, that would allow for payment in installments of unusual budget demands if they passed a certain threshold, possibly equivalent to two months of normal contributions. Britain's monthly contribution this year is a little over ¤1bn.
The dispute is part of the EU's long-term, ¤960bn budget for the 2014-2020 period, an amount that represents a nominal decrease of around three percent on the last seven-year budget. Money goes to areas from farming to foreign policy and Britain and its EU partners agreed to it in February last year.
EU countries review the budget on an annual basis and Britain's surprise bill is part of London's 2014 contribution, which does not change the overall size of the budget but means some countries pay less because Britain pays in more.
That reflects a review of national statistics across Europe and in particular a larger than previously estimated rise since 2002 in the contribution of non-profit organisations - including clubs, churches and universities - to the British economy.
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