A furious David Cameron has launched his most trenchant attack on Brussels, insisting there is no way Britain will pay a surprise demand for £1.7 billion and warning it could help push the country towards the exit door.
At his post-summit press conference in the Belgian capital yesterday, the Prime Minister condemned the European Commission's behaviour as unacceptable and made it clear he was prepared to take legal action to block the move.
"It is an appalling way to behave. I am not paying that bill on December 1. If people think I am, they have got another thing coming," declared a visibly angry premier.
Asked if it would push Britain closer to leaving the EU in the promised 2017 referendum, Mr Cameron conceded it "certainly doesn't help" to make the case for Britain staying in the EU.
It is thought Treasury officials were aware for some time that a major recalculation of member states' incomes going back to 1995 was in the pipeline. They received the numbers on Tuesday, while the PM was made aware of them on Thursday.
But Mr Cameron told reporters: "You can all do 'who knew what when?' and all the rest of it but, frankly, you don't need a Cluedo set to know that someone has been clubbed with the lead piping in the library."
Yesterday morning, the PM quickly interrupted Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, during the summit talks to demand an emergency meeting of finance ministers to review the figures. The Italian Government indicated this was likely to take place next week in Venice at an already planned informal meeting of Chancellor George Osborne and his EU counterparts.
Mr Cameron won support for his position from other EU states, including the Netherlands, Italy, Greece and Malta, which are also facing hefty surcharges.
Italy's prime minister Matteo Renzi told fellow leaders the demand for more money was "a lethal weapon" that would lead voters to see the commission as "technocrats and bureaucrats without a heart or a soul". Mr Cameron said he agreed with "every word".
But agreement to reduce or waive the payments could prove difficult, as some other major EU states stand to benefit to the tune of hundreds of millions of euros; France is expecting a rebate of €1 billion (£800m), while Germany is set to get back €779 million (£614m).
Mr Cameron said he accepted that adjustments were made each year to member states' contributions and that Britain, which is a net contributor annually paying in £8.6bn, in some years gained a few million euros and in others lost a few million euros. But he balked at the appearance of a bill for £1.7bn.
"We have invested in this organisation, we are a leading player in it," stressed the PM. "You do not join an association that suddenly thumps you with a bill for €2bn three weeks before you've got to pay it. If it behaves in this way, it shouldn't get surprised when its members say this cannot go on and it's got to change."
But Labour's Ed Balls claimed the row showed Mr Cameron was now "isolated, one foot out of the door, and ignored" in Europe and accused him of failing to act quickly enough.
The timing of the EU demand puts more political pressure on the Tory leader, facing the prospect of losing the Rochester by-election next month to Ukip.
Nigel Farage, branding the EU "a thirsty vampire feasting on UK taxpayers' blood", claimed Mr Cameron was in "a very weak position" to avoid stumping up the money.
"He can do nothing about this," said the Ukip leader. "He's now being pushed into a position where, unless he brings forward his referendum promise, he's in real political trouble."
Northamptonshire Tory MP Peter Bone said: "Roll on the referendum; this will just strengthen the resolve of the British public to get out of this superstate."
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