UK rebate
As British rebate (also British check, official UK compensation) is called a scheme for the budget of the European Union, which admits a special status in relation to other EU member states to the United Kingdom.
History
The agreement was adopted by the European Council in 1984 on the initiative of the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; they granted to the United Kingdom on his contributions a discount. For this purpose, it is calculated how much the UK pays into the budget of the European Union and how much of it flows back ( through subsidies, grants, etc.) in the United Kingdom. In general, more than paid back flows, therefore, the United Kingdom is a so-called net contributors. The discount is 66 percent of the net contribution. Its peak it reached approximately 7.3 billion Euros in 2001; In 2005, this discount was approximately 5.1 billion euros.
The rationale for the scheme was that British agriculture at that time was smaller than the other EC countries, which is why Great Britain and Northern Ireland did not benefit to the same extent by the agricultural subsidies of the Common Agricultural Policy, such as France or Germany. Another argument was the 1984 EC compared low level of prosperity of the United Kingdom. The UK rebate was negotiated by the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the numerous decisions of the European Communities blocked in previous years by reference to the " British budget issue " and had thus contributed to the so-called Euro - sclerosis crisis. The formula was known "What we are asking for is a very large amount of our own money back!" ( German: "What we require is that we get back a large part of our own money !"), With the Thatcher its ambitious goal of was in the protracted negotiations expression.
As part of the negotiations on the future multiannual financial framework of the EU budget for the period 2007-2013 voices of other Member States in June 2005, according to increasingly demanding a reduction or elimination of the discount. A strong advocate of the discount reduction was, for example, the then French President Jacques Chirac. On 14 June 2005, the Luxembourg Presidency proposed under Jean- Claude Juncker prior to freezing of the British rebate on the current state and a continued reduction from 2007, which the British government under Tony Blair refused, however. In December 2005, the negotiations came to a head. Angela Merkel, German Federal Chancellor since the 2005 federal election, made a compromise proposal. On 17 December 2005 an agreement was reached that the British rebate should be up to 2013 significantly reduced. Despite this agreement, all EU members were not completely agree with this scheme as it still contains inequalities. One of the main arguments has been argued that the UK is now counted among the richest EU countries. In the fall of 2012 ( but not binding ) lost Prime Minister David Cameron, the annual vote on the European budget in parliament against a coalition of Labour, Scottish nationalists and 53 MPs from his own party, which call for a freeze in the EU budget, leading to the increase in plans the other EU members in complete contradiction stands.