Britain brushes aside Chirac concession

Britain brushed off a concession by French President Jacques Chirac at a European Union summit on Friday, reaffirming its rejection of a freeze on its annual rebate from the bloc's budget. "Graciously accepting an offer we rejected three days ago doesn't do it for us," a British official said. "We don't think it's much of a concession. It would mean us losing between 25 and 30 billion euros (over seven years)."
Chirac earlier made known he would reluctantly accept pegging the refund at its pre-enlargement level of 4.6 billion euros a year, instead of phasing it out as he had demanded, if it helped clinch a final deal on the 2007-13 EU budget.