Farage Ltd and Similar Watch

[visage]

Give them time FFS.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Today football tat, tomorrow THE WORLD

 

[Kenny]

Are you a multinational corporation making millions in the UK? No? Then no, you can't.

Then pay up Cams


What happens if we don't pay? Do the Euro Bailiffs turn up at Dover and start repossessing items to cover the debt?

 

[Johnny75]

Then pay up Cams


What happens if we don't pay? Do the Euro Bailiffs turn up at Dover and start repossessing items to cover the debt?

Or we just tell them to Fuck off? Their alternative is to kick the UK out and that's not going to happen either.

I can see us paying some of it in return for increased border control and restrictions on free movement.

 

[lemonjelly]

D-Cam - I'm angry at the sudden presentation of a €2bn bill to the UK by the EU. It's an appalling way to behave and I won't be paying it on Dec 1st


Can I use that line if HMRC demand money from me to be paid in a short period time?

Exactly my initial thought.

PM demands talks over EU budget
Breaking news
Prime Minister David Cameron has demanded EU finance ministers meet for emergency talks over EU budget after UK was told it must pay extra £1.7bn.

Mr Cameron interrupted a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels to express dismay at the demand for the UK to pay extra into the EU's coffers on 1 December.

He told Commission boss Jose Manuel Barroso he had no idea of the impact of such things, Downing Street said.

And it was not just press or public opinion, it was about £2bn.

Cameron went onto say. "I don't care that our economy is growing at a faster rate then yours. We are currently increasing the deficit in paying down our debt so therefore the money isn't there to be paying any more into the EU coffers. So cancel the bill please and lets start to open discussions about letting less of your lot onto our shores."

Could be a mistake here. Is this the first time Cameron has confirmed publicly that the deficit is not being reduced?

 

[Sniffer]

Exactly my initial thought.
Could be a mistake here. Is this the first time Cameron has confirmed publicly that the deficit is not being reduced?

Sorry Lemon they were my words and not those of our illustrious leader. The inaccuracies of saying that we are paying down the debt, whilst its actually increasing, and letting less of your lot onto our shores was supposed to give the game away.

 

[Parkins left foot]

Europe demands another 1.7 billion pounds because the economy's doing so well...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/23/uk-european-commission-eu-budget-contribution

Whilst its only a proposal at the moment & has to be agreed by the commission via qualified voting, is it just me that finds it a trifle coincidental the number of countries who will get refunds through this JUST meet the 2/3 rds. threshold needed to get it voted through? Or is that a tad cynical on my part!

 

[Penk Wolf]

If it's since 1995 how the hell can Germany and France be getting refunds?

Time to pull out of the EU. As a Country we are quite capable of looking after ourselves.

 

[Penk Wolf]

Ah right, so Brown & Blair undervalued our growth and then Cameron goes back and tells them, actually our growth was better than that.

And all this whilst the Germans and the French are saying, actually the figures we gave you before are too high, we want some money back.

 

[Tredman]

No one under or over valued anything, the mechanism for calculating GDP changed. Since a good proportion of our 'city' fiddled figures we end up where we are.

But god forbid any of our self serving politicians should criticise their school friends or family in the city when they can blame the foreigners.

There's a good article in the FT, have a read. Storm in a tea cup

 

[Penk Wolf]

I can't seem to register. Would it be possible to put up an overview, please?

 

[Tredman]

Britain has picked many fights with its European partners at EU summits over the past decades. Few have been as tense as those concerning the bloc’s budget. Back in 1984 Margaret Thatcher famously wielded her handbag at a gathering in Fontainebleau, winning a rebate against the UK’s payments. Now, David Cameron is flexing his muscles in another dispute over the UK’s contribution. Not for the first time, the prime minister’s rage against the EU is an exaggerated response to what is a somewhat modest issue.
Mr Cameron’s fury is over a demand that Britain makes a payment of £1.7bn to the European Commission in Brussels by December 1. The commission has made the request following a recalculation of the size of the UK economy over most of the past 12 years. Under EU budget rules, the richer member states pay more into the club. After a reassessment of UK gross national income conducted by Britain’s Office for National Statistics, the UK has been presented with a bill to cover its underpayments from 2002 to 2013.

Mr Cameron is not the only EU leader angered by this sudden surcharge. At a time when national budgets across the EU are highly constrained, this politically sensitive demand has angered the Dutch. José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, would have been wise to give an upfront explanation of the move, rather than leaving it to bureaucrats to put out a dry technical note. The commission also risks appearing draconian by demanding repayment from the UK and other states within such a strict deadline.
Yet Mr Cameron’s outburst on Friday – declaring himself to be “downright angry” – is disproportionate. True, £1.7bn looks a large sum when set against the UK’s annual net contribution to the EU of £8.6bn. But the £1.7bn figure is a one-off payment which accounts for less than 0.1 per cent of UK gross national income. Since it is a top-up to UK contributions covering 11 years, Britain is being asked to pay an extra £150m a year over the period. A sum like this would barely deserve a footnote in the UK’s annual accounts.
Nor do the British have grounds to complain over their EU contribution. Britain has become a net contributor to the bloc not only because of its strong economic performance but also because of EU enlargement to eastern Europe. This is a strategic and successful foreign policy goal that Mr Cameron’s predecessors rightly championed. Conservative eurosceptics may be troubled by the flow of immigrants from eastern European states to Britain. Yet one of the most effective ways to cut emigration from countries such as Bulgaria and Romania is to maintain the EU structural funds that help their economies to grow.
The biggest worry about this debacle is the message it sends about Mr Cameron’s European policy. There no longer seem to be any limits to the concessions that the prime minister will make to try to stall the momentum of the UK Independence party before next year’s general election. He has raised the impossible prospect of placing quotas on EU migration to Britain. Now he has turned a marginal question about the bloc’s finances into a row with the allies he needs to take Europe down the road of reform.

If Mr Cameron wins the next election he will hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. Last year he declared that he would campaign “with all my heart and soul” for Britain to stay in the club. Today, that declaration is barely believable. Mr Cameron looks like someone who will do anything to save his premiership and his party, whatever the cost to his country.

.

 

[Premier Quality]

Apparently they revalued the economies to take into account prostitution and illegal drugs, so presumably we should use the tax take from that to pay the bill?

Cameron should move the referendum forward, it's the ideal time.

 

[Penk Wolf]

.

Thanks.

What is France's & Germany's current annual bill?

 

[Tredman]

Apparently they revalued the economies to take into account prostitution and illegal drugs, so presumably we should use the tax take from that to pay the bill?

Cameron should move the referendum forward, it's the ideal time.

90% of this illegal revenue was financial services in the UK IIRC

 

[Premier Quality]

Said in the papers it was illegal drugs and prostitution - was quite specific?

 

[Templeton Peck]

From the BBC:

"The UK has just started including the money made from prostitution as part of the size of its economy - it's a relatively small amount of money but it's a good example.

It's been added as a result of a change in statistical accounting methods, but actually it should have been doing this for years."

Bit of a non-story this tbh. Cameron needs to stop making a fuss about it as he may end up looking foolish. Again.

 

[Bit on the shaggies]

Thanks.

What is France's & Germany's current annual bill?

About 20bn euros. The UK pays 12bn which is less even than Italy who contribute 14 or so.

 

[Penk Wolf]

Puts a slightly different picture on it.

 

[Premier Quality]

Isn't that before CAP though, from which the uk gets next to nothing and everyone else gets billions? Hence the rebate...