EU ministers challenged Osborne’s U.K. budget surcharge bill 50% discount claims

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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European Union finance ministers and counterparts have challenged on Friday the claims made by George Osborne that EU have agreed to half Britain’s £1.7bn budget surcharge bill.

The chancellor has claimed earlier today that after the bill discounted 50 per cent, the £850 million will be paid in two instalments by September 2015.

Mr Osborne has hailed the positive outcome and said: “Instead of footing the bill, we have halved the bill, we have delayed the bill, we will pay no interest on the bill, and if there are mistakes on the bill, we will get our money back.

“We have also changed permanently the rules of the European Union, so this never happens again.

“This is far beyond what anyone expected us to achieve, it’s a result for Britain. The bill, instead of being £1.7 billion, will be around £850million.

“The British rebate will apply in full, and in the year in which the payments were made.

“We will pay in two instalments in the second half of next year.”

Whereas, Irish finance minister Michael Noonan has said to be surprised over Chancellor’s calculation, saying: “The instalments will be paid over a period of time. My understanding is that the UK will pay the whole amount, but there will be no penalties attached.”

Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem has said: “The UK has … a rebate, which they have had for a very long time and of course this mechanism of rebate will also apply on the new contribution.

“So it’s not as if the British have been given a discount today. The old mechanism of the rebate will also apply on the UK contribution, which will increase.”

Austria’s Hans Joerg Schelling has stated: “Whether the money is to be paid in instalments or as a lump sum is a discussion we can have. But the amount cannot be put in question.”

Afterwards, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has criticised the chancellor’s claims and told: “Ministers have failed to get a better deal for the British taxpayer.”

Mr Balls has also accused Prime Minister David Cameron and Mr Osborne of “trying to take the British people for fools”, adding that “not a single penny has been saved for the taxpayer” by the agreement.

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