Chirac: Britain should play full role in EU financing

Britain should play “its full role” in the financing of an enlarged European Union, President Jacques Chirac told his cabinet today, according to government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope.

The comment came a day after the French president met with Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has threatened to veto the EU’s budget plans for 2007 to 2013 if Britain is pressed to give up its multi-billion-euro annual rebate.