EU considered freezing Britain out of budget deal
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - The European Commission confirmed on Friday that it had looked at ways of getting a deal on the European Union's next long-term budget without British consent so as to prevent Prime Minister David Cameron from vetoing the package.
Ahead of a summit in November, diplomats said EU officials had examined legal options to side-step a British veto, with Cameron considered the most likely to follow through with a threat to block a budget deal.
"There was some speculation, and even preparatory work done in the Commission, (on) whether it was feasible to have a budget ... without the UK," Janusz Lewandowski, the EU's most senior budget official, told a small group of reporters.
Instead, EU leaders and officials sought to accommodate British demands for a freeze in the bloc's budget.
Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/25/uk-eu-budget-idUKBRE90O0KF20130125