Taoiseach to join leaders in opposing British plans

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern will join the majority of EU leaders when he tells the British Prime Minister today he must change his proposals for the EU’s budget.

Under the package put forward by Britain, which hold the current EU presidency, Ireland would become a net payer into the EU budget a year earlier than under proposals made last June.

The British, accused of putting their own interests first, are busy rewriting their complex proposals for the €850 billion six-year budget after it was roundly rejected by almost all member states.