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UK settles £1.7bn EU bill once called "appalling" by Cameron

Britain quietly settled its latest altercation over the European Union budget by paying a 1.7 billion-pound ($2.6 billion) bill that Prime Minister David Cameron originally derided as “appalling.”

Britain transferred the money in two installments on July 1 and Sept. 1, the Brussels-based European Commission said in a statement on Thursday. The U.K. was among nine countries that were forced last October to pay more as a result of rising national wealth.

In the tradition of British criticism of European spending that dates back to Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, Cameron reacted last October to the increased bill by calling it -- and the tight deadline for paying -- “completely unacceptable.” Cameron eventually won European permission to delay the payment until after this May’s British election.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-03/u-k-settles-eu-bill-once-called-appalling-by-cameron

This is the same "completely unacceptable" bill which Cameron in October 2014 made a great show and dance about refusing to pay:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/11184760/David-Cameron-demands-emergency-talks-over-EU-budget-demand.html

Reply 1

SHallowvale

Is this £1.7 billion a separate fee like the one last year or part of our regular annual membership fee?

Reply 2

Drunk Punx

"Rising national wealth"? Wut.
"Ooh you've got some money! You'd probably like to use it to alleviate the housing crisis wouldn't you? Don't worry about that, I'll take it off your hands so you don't have to bother yourself with arranging petty things like that".

A tad simplistic perhaps.