16 December 2005
European leaders met in Brussels today to discuss the future financing of the EU. Before offering a new proposal, the PM spoke to journalists.
Read the PM’s statement in full
… I think people do genuinely know it is time for Europe to reach a deal and to move on. I think what is important is that the budget also gives us a chance to do two very important things. The first is to make sure that we can finance the economic development in the new member states of the European Union, the central and eastern European states that have come into the European Union who we want to support and help in their journey into the future - economically, and politically and socially.
And secondly, it also gives us a process for what we believe is essential, which is the fundamental restructuring of the budget for the medium and long term. It also of course deals with the issues to do with the British rebate, and deals with them I believe in a way fully consistent with what we have been saying over this past period of time, which again allows us, as Britons, to pay our fair share of the cost of economic development in these new member states of the European Union, but preserves absolutely the rebate in respect of the rest of the expenditure.
So we will be putting it down shortly, there will then be a discussion, I intend to try and keep it as brief as possible, but obviously people will want to make their points. But then I think people are really going to have to make up their mind as to whether they want to do this deal at all. But I believe, as people will see when it is put down in front of them, it is a fair and reasonable package. So I hope again, I will have a chance at some point later - I hope not too much later, as no doubt you do too - to go through all this in a great deal of detail.
There is not a great deal of point asking me more at the moment, or indeed anything at the moment, because what I want to do is to give them the chance to study what we have put down. But I thought I would just, given that it will be some time before I am able to come and do the proper press conference, I thought I would just come and give you an update on where we are. So we are keeping our fingers crossed.
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