EU Summit: Cameron Claims Rebate Victory

The Prime Minister has slammed an EU summit "ambush" aimed at shaving hundreds of millions of pounds off Britain's rebate.

David Cameron said proposed changes could have slashed the rebate by £1.5bn over the 2014-2020 budget period and that he found the way negotiations had been conducted "immensely frustrating".

He said: "I am frustrated I have to go through that battle all over again.

"But in this town you have to be ready for an ambush at any time, and that means lock and load and have one up the spout, and be ready for it.

"And that is exactly what I did."

The late-night dispute in Brussels centred on whether the agricultural grants to new EU members should be included in calculations for the UK rebate.

Herman Van Rompuy said youth unemployment was the summit's priority

French negotiators are said to have argued that the rural development spending should be excluded from the sums - potentially reducing the £3bn annual rebate by 10% - around £300m a year - according to the PM.

However, Mr Cameron was adamant that the issue was settled in the UK's favour by EU leaders back in February.

Downing Street sources indicated that European Council president Herman Van Rompuy had assured him the position had not changed, and the agricultural spending would be included in rebate calculations.

Speaking after the talks, Mr Cameron said the rebate was "completely secure".

He added: "It is, and I won't lie, it is immensely frustrating sometimes, the way this organisation works.

"In February, in the conclusions, it was written that the British rebate would continue as before...

Angela Merkel was expected to challenge the PM over claims of GCHQ snooping

"It is frankly not acceptable for it to be left to the last minute and then an attempt at reopening it, and an ambush at 1am at the end of a European Council meeting.

"I think this is no way for an organisation to conduct itself."

The PM said there had been progress at the talks on reducing the burden of EU regulation but that the pace of change was "not fast enough".

He announced the creation of a task force of six business leaders to investigate the impact of red-tape on UK firms and come up with suggestions on how to cut it ahead of the next EU summit.

Sky News Deputy Political Editor Joey Jones said there had been "fairly acrimonious" discussions but the rebate issue appeared to be settled - for now.

But he said other European leaders are likely to raise the rebate again in the future if David Cameron presses ahead with plans to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the EU.

Earlier, it emerged that the European Parliament had backed down after months of resistance to spending restraint as the seven-year EU budget was agreed.

The ceiling for spending from 2014-2020 will fall for the first time to 908bn euro (£776bn), as national leaders agreed in February.

The 136bn euro (£116bn) budget for 2014 is nearly 6% lower than this year.

But there is still criticism that administration costs will be rising, while MEPs claim they have negotiated guarantees that the full budgets will be used - unlike previous years when there have been large underspends.

Mr Van Rompuy has declared improving the job prospects of young people the main theme for the two day gathering.

Some 5.6 million are out of work in the eurozone, and in Greece and Spain the unemployment rate has rocketed to over 50%.

The council president is emphasising the need for money to be pumped into projects that could boost their employment chances.

But Mr Cameron also hopes to urge looser labour market rules and deregulation to help small and medium sized companies.

The PM has staked Britain's continuing membership of the EU on his ability to negotiate fundamental reform of it - with an in-out referendum due to be held in 2017 if the Tories win the general election.

Mr Cameron could also face questions at the summit from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others after it emerged that eavesdropping agency GCHQ has been mass-monitoring global phone and internet traffic.

Berlin has openly challenged the validity of the Project Tempora surveillance operation, the existence of which was revealed by US National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden.

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