EU/BRITAIN: German chancellor Gerhard Schröder made a final plea to Britain to compromise on its EU budget rebate yesterday and dismissed suggestions that the EU constitution is "dead".
"There is absolutely no justification any longer for the British rebate considering that Britain ranks sixth in terms of wealth per capita but way down in terms of [EU] payments per capita," said Mr Schröder in a speech to the Bundestag.
The chancellor said claims from elsewhere in Europe that the constitution is dead are "quite wrong".
An unnamed senior CDU politician told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper: "I just hope that Chancellor Schröder stays tough in the summit and doesn't pull out the chequebook in the last phase of the negotiations."