LET'S SEE 'EM SELL THAT TO THE YOBS:

Scrap looms over British budget rebate: A fierce battle between member states over money is brewing today as leaked documents from the European Commission reveal plans to end the UK's special budget rebate and make London the biggest net contributor to EU funds. (EU Observer, 7/08/04)

The proposals - reported in Le Monde - are part of the Commission's plans for the budgetary period from 2007-2013, drawn up by budgetary commissioner Michaele Schreyer.

In the draft document, Ms Schreyer says, "The UK is going to become the smallest net contributor to the EU budget ... as a result, the current system of a correction reserved exclusively for the UK cannot continue".

Instead, Brussels proposes a "general refund mechanism", which would share out the rebate equally between all member states whose contributions to the EU exceed 0.35 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP).

This would mean that the UK would become the largest net contributor to EU funds, relative to the size of its economy, paying 0.51 percent of its GDP, compared to 0.35 and 0.31 percent for Italy and France respectively.