EU: France and Germany led a fierce campaign by EU leaders yesterday to persuade Britain to accept a reduction of its annual EU budget rebate to help reach a deal on the bloc's long-term finances.
British prime minister Tony Blair, looking isolated, opened the way to a compromise by suggesting a deal would be possible if EU leaders agreed to a major overhaul of the budget.
A showdown is looming at an EU summit next week. Asked if a budget deal would be possible without British movement, German chancellor Gerhard Schröder said: "That will not be possible, given that all must make compromises."
Britain won its rebate in 1984 when it was one of the poorer EU countries and got little back from Brussels in farm subsidies which at the time made up 75 per cent of the EU budget.
French president Jacques Chirac yesterday said: "Our British friends must be aware of how things are changing and therefore of the necessity of a greater fairness in the burden carried by each [ member]."
Swedish prime minister Goran Persson backed the Franco-German position.