UK PM refuses to pay EU's bill

United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron refused a surprise 2.1 billion euro bill set by the European Union (EU), to be paid by the 1st of December, for EU coffers -- calling it an "unacceptable way to treat one of the biggest contributors to the European Union."

"I'm not paying that bill on the 1st of December; if people think I am, they've got another thing coming," Cameron said during a televised address, insisting that emergency meetings were needed to investigate how the bill was accounted as well as a "proper" explanation of how the figure became so exaggerated. He said that he had obtained the support of other nations' representatives in the issue, including the prime ministers of Italy, Greece, Netherlands, Malta and others he did not specify.

EU ministers will hold an emergency meeting on the issue next month. Cameron said that he wanted to understand the technical calculations and was also ready to mount a legal challenge if necessary. While he acknowledged that revisions of the bill often happen due to factors such as slower economic growth, he said that it has never been the case that a bill of this magnitude was presented so abruptly, with such a short deadline for payment.

EU officials insisted that the revision was part of an annual statistical exercise handled by civil servants, not politicians. Jose Manuel Barroso, outgoing president of the European Commission, defended his staff, telling a news conference that the system was designed by national governments that provided the income data, on which payments were calculated.

by Kevin Andrews

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