Britain must contribute an extra 2.1 billion euros to the EU budget or face fines, the European Commission said today, after a furious David Cameron insisted that London would not pay.
"There will be a moment when the Commission will start imposing ... Fines on the amounts that are due," interim EU Budget Commissioner Jacek Dominik said when asked what would happen if the British premier stuck to his guns and did not pay by a December 1 deadline.
Cameron had called the demand completely "unacceptable" at a European Union leaders summit on Friday, claiming he had been bushwacked out of the blue.
"I am not paying that bill on the first of December. If people think that is going to happen they've got another thing coming," he said.
"We are not suddenly going to take out our chequebook and write a cheque for two billion euros, it is not happening."
Dominik reiterated that Britain should not have been surprised since the process of adjusting the budget was well established and, as normal, included British-sourced figures and involved British officials who had not raised any problems on the issue after official notification on October 17.
"I was surprised by (Cameron's) reaction," he said, "because there was no signal that they had a problem with this figure."
Asked if there could be a political solution with the British premier, Dominik said he did not think so.
Calculating the budget was based on a formula agreed by all EU member states which would require new legislation to change.
Going down that track would be to "open up a Pandora's box," he said.
At the same time, he said, Britain could not pick and choose which bits of EU laws it wanted to live by.
On top of its regular annual budget rebate, London was due to get an additional 500 million euros next year, Dominik said.
Britain "cannot question one day the system that imposes (an extra payment) and next day say it likes the other element" which gives it a rebate, he said.
Cameron, facing a rising tide of eurosceptic voters deserting his Conservative Party has promised an in-out EU referendum in 2017 if he wins elections next year, making the latest exchanges with Brussels even more bitter.
