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Local MEP hits out at EU budget surrender
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Controversial UK Independence Party MEP Godfrey Bloom accused Tony Blair of returning from Europe waving the white flag of surrender over the EU budget, and challenged the Prime Minister to name anything positive that has come out of the UK’s presidency of the EU. Britain has agreed a cut of 10.5 billion euros in its rebate between 2007 and 2013.
“When the EU enlarged from 15 countries to 25, the government told us this would not be a burden on the British taxpayer. Now the government has done a U-turn and agrees to pay to subsidise the new members”, said Godfrey Bloom. “If we’re giving money away, why not give it to countries that really need it – like Niger, Sierra Leone or Malawi? Why we should spend billions on Poland or Slovakia whilst people starve to death in poorer non-EU nations?”
The Prime Minister now claims that the deal is good for Britain. But in June he claimed that the rebate was not negotiable. "Britain has been making a gesture because over the past 10 years, even with the British rebate, we have been making a contribution into Europe two-and-a-half times that of France," Tony Blair said. "Without the rebate it would have been 15 times as much as France"
Godfrey Bloom asked “Can anyone name a single positive that has come out of the UK’s Presidency of the EU? It’s time for Tony Blair to admit that it has been a complete failure.”
UKIP MEP Nigel Farage, co-leader of the Independence and Democracy group in the European Parliament, speaking on the Today programme on Saturday, said “I think that people would prefer spending £1 billion of our money a year on district hospitals rather than building a metro system for Warsaw”
From the Office of Godfrey Bloom MEP
For Immediate Release – 20th December 2005
Local MEP hits out at EU budget surrender
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