Defend £2bn EU rebate, euro-sceptic Kilroy-Silk tells Blair

British Euro-MP Robert Kilroy-Silk today urged Tony Blair to use his veto to stop “our money from being spent in eastern Europe“.

In a letter to the British Prime Minister, the newly-elected UK Indepence Party MEP for the East Midlands echoed Margaret Thatcher’s mantra that “we want our money back” from Brussels.

The move came on the eve of European Commission financial proposals seeking to curb the rebate, which saves the UK Treasury more than £2bn (€3bn) a year on the nation’s contributions towards running the EU.

The rebate was hard-won by Mrs Thatcher in 1984, after grudging acceptance of her argument that the UK was the biggest net contributor to the Brussels kitty despite being nowhere near the top of European wealth league table.

Net contributors are those EU countries which pay in more than they get back in grants and subsidies. But the UK is the only nation to qualify for a special adjustment – the rebate – because heavily-distorted agriculture payments benefit countries such as France far more than they benefit the UK.

But 20 years on, with the share of agriculture spending coming down, pressure is on for the unique rebate to be taken away and redistributed to poorer nations among the 25 member states.

The idea is outlined in EU financing plans for 2007-2013, due to be tabled this week by EU budget Commissioner Michaele Schreyer.

But Mr Kilroy-Silk, the former TV presenter and ex-Labour MP, said he was insisting Mr Blair wields the veto he has in EU decisions on financial arrangements:

“I am telling him to say that this is not an issue, that it is not negotiable and that he must exercise the veto to prevent this from happening.”

His letter states: “I want you to make it absolutely clear both to this commissioner and to the British people that we will continue to want all our money back and that the rebate is not only ‘fully justified’ but is non-negotiable.”

He said his constituents had made it very clear to him that they resent their hard-earned money being spent in Europe without their knowledge or consent: “They do not want their money dispensed among the governments of eastern Europe and they want a reassurance from you that this will not be happening.”

The two UK Commissioners Neil Kinnock and Chris Patten have warned Ms Schreyer that she is naïve if the thinks the UK government will agree to give up the rebate.

And a senior UK government official confirmed this afternoon: “The reasons for the rebate remain. It is still fully justified. Even with the rebate we are still the second biggest net contributor in the EU and we are certainly not the second wealthiest country per capita. That says it all.”

The last thing Tony Blair needs is a fight over EU money, on top of a euro-election result which saw a huge rise in the euro-sceptic vote.

But he is prepared to defend the veto if the threat has not receded once the final shape of the Commission proposals is revealed, either tomorrow or next week.