The claim for oodles to be paid into the budget is about the non-payment of the amount due over a past period, writes Schadenfreude, our secret columnist in Brussels.
Non-payment follows from a recalculation of the gross national incomes of all the Member States.
The additional amount billed to the UK for is delayed contribution.
It is therefore automatically subject to the Thatcher rebate, which used to be 2/3rds but is now half.
Accordingly, (1) there is no “victory” in getting the reduction on the original demand,and
(2) the UK has not “used up” its rebate due on its future payments into the EU budget.
Future payments, at the higher level, will be rebated.
Some member states would like to see the UK rebate abolished but the UK has a blocking vote.
At some time in the future there will be another recalculation. Unless there are systemic changes,
there will be winners and losers. The losers will try to mitigate the effects.
What is all the fuss ? Maybe the Juncker Commission has learned that you do not threaten a sovereign
state with “fines.”
