Mediaboss Marketing

By Stephen Castle

LONDON: A demand from the European Union for an extra payment worth $2.7 billion would not be welcome news for any European leader. For Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, the request on Friday comes at a particularly difficult time, as he faces a crucial electoral battle with a populist party that wants the nation to walk away from the European Union.

Cameron quickly rejected the demand as "totally unacceptable."

The request for the money, which is about 1.7 billion pounds, came after a recalculation of data showed that the British economy performed better in recent years than previously thought. That suggested that its payments into the EU budget should rise according to the bloc's formula for contributions. The payment would come in addition to Britain's annual payment of about $13.8 billion to the bloc's treasury.

In a country where membership in the European Union has become contentious, the demand is being portrayed as a punishment for Britain's relative economic success compared with the performance of its neighbors on the Continent.

Speaking at a news briefing at an EU summit meeting in Brussels, Cameron described the additional fee as "unjustified" and said Britain would refuse to pay it.

"If people think I am paying that on Dec. 1 - no, that is not happening," said Cameron, who added that European finance ministers would meet to review the calculations used to come up with what he called a "vast" sum of taxpayers' money.

The British leader described Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy as saying that the cash claim was a "lethal weapon" used by EU officials "without a heart or a soul."

In theory, the extra contribution should be paid by Dec. 1, although Britain will most likely seek to delay and reduce the amount. Cameron has promised that he will renegotiate the terms of British membership in the EU if he is re-elected next year and that he will hold a referendum in 2017 on whether to stay in the bloc.

For the prime minister, the timing and nature of the budget dispute could hardly be worse. He has tried to convince Britons that he has already made headway on overhauling the EU, in part by insisting that it reduce overall spending.

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European Union asks Britain to pay extra $2.7 billion