Statsminister David Cameron er under økende press for å nedlegge veto mot Europakommisjonens krav om tre nye skatter som vil koste den britiske befolkningen ti milliarder pund. Flere av Camerons partifeller tar også til orde for å gå ut av EU som følge av EU-kommisjonens krav om rett til å skattlegge medlemslandene.
Representanter for finansdepartementet kaller Europakommisjonens krav den mest mest hårreisende maktovertagelsen i nyere tid:
The European Commission yesterday revealed budget demands which would cost UK taxpayers £10billion.
In what Treasury officials viewed as one of the most outrageous power grabs in recent memory, they demanded the right to raise a Europe-wide sales tax.
Brussels bosses also called for a new financial transaction tax, which critics say will hurt the City of London and leave consumers with higher borrowing costs.
Totalt krever Brussel nærmere 100 milliarder pund ekstra til budsjetter mellom 2014 og 2020. Dette innebærer at britiske skattebetalere må betale 10 milliarder pund mer over en syv årsperiode, en økning på 1,4 milliarder i året i tillegg til de årlige 13.3 milliardene pund britene betaler til EU i dag.
And, as the Mail predicted yesterday, the commission also outlined proposals for a new funding formula which would chisel away at Britain’s £3billion-a-year rebate negotiated by Margaret Thatcher.
The fine details of the new taxes were not spelled out, but will be part of a year-long negotiation over the budget.
The demands fuelled growing fury in Downing Street about the greed of Eurocrats at a time when David Cameron has called for the EU to emulate the Coalition’s belt tightening.
They come amid claims that two of the Prime Minister’s closest aides want Britain to leave the EU. Senior government sources say that Oliver Letwin, the Cabinet Office minister who is David Cameron’s policy chief, and Steve Hilton, the Prime Minister’s closest political friend and big ideas guru, have both come to the view that the UK should pull out of Europe altogether.
The Spectator magazine reported: ‘Both have been known to end meetings by saying, “Well, the only solution is to leave the EU”. At least two Cabinet ministers share their view.’
The EU cash grab came when commission officials outlined plans for the budget between 2014 and 2020. For the first time it will top one trillion euros. The budget demand represents an increase of more than 10.5 per cent, nearly five times the EU’s official inflation rate. It is an open snub to Mr Cameron, who has called for a freeze in the budget.
Et seniormedlem av regjeringen beskriver EUs krav som “vanvittig”, og en talsmann for finansdepartementet sier: - Europakommisjonens forslag er fullstendig urealistisk. Det er for stort, ikke det begrensede budsjettet de hevder og inkompatibelt med de tøffe beslutningene som blir tatt i land i hele Europa.
En kilde legger til: - Vi er mot enhver ny skatt for å finansiere EUs budsjett. Vi vil beskytte vår rabatt og vi vil ikke akseptere noe som betyr at den [rabatten] ikke lenger er permanent.
Tory backbencher Douglas Carswell said: ‘My response to reports that cabinet ministers are starting to come round to the view that we should leave the EU would be “about time too”.’
Fellow MP Peter Bone added: ‘The EU has already doubled our contributions. If they want to take more of our rebate, David Cameron needs to wield the male equivalent of a handbag. This is yet another nail in the coffin of the European Union.’
A No 10 spokesman stopped short of denying that Mr Hilton wants to quit the EU but added: ‘Oliver Letwin agrees with the Government’s position which is that it is our policy to be in the EU.’
