International Shia News Agency

PressTV/ EU deal not a victory for British gov.

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association)- An economic expert says the deal between the UK and European Union is not a real victory for the British government.

On Friday, British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne claimed victory in UK’s row with the European Union over a €2.1 billion budget contribution, saying it has been able to reduce and delay the surcharge.

Press TV held an interview with London-based economic expert Robert Oulds on Saturday. He reacted to Osborne’s comment, saying the Chancellor’s claim to halve the bill is not actually correct.

“What’s happening is that the bill will cost the British taxpayers an extra 1.7 billion pounds, as the European Union has demanded. So, at the end of the day, the bill is still costing Britons exactly the same amount of money already demanded by the EU. George Osborne has not been honest with how much the British people are being charged by the European Union. Osborne, in fact, is misrepresenting the facts,” Oulds stated.

George Osborne said that London’s payments to EU would be due in the second half of next year, well after the May general elections.

“We have halved the bill, we have delayed the bill, we will pay no interest on the bill,” said Osborne.

On Friday, EU finance ministers agreed to extend a deadline for Britain to pay its huge surcharge after London refused to pay before December first. The bloc’s finance ministers extended the deadline for Britain until September 2015 to pay the €2.1 billion surcharge in installments. The agreement was made after the British Prime Minister David Cameron refused to pay the bill and the Chancellor of the Exchequer promised to get Britain a better deal.

 

Source:PressTV

www.shafaqna.com

 

Leave a Comment