Danish PM threatens veto on EU budget

The Danish Prime Minister said here Thursday that Denmark would veto the upcoming, seven-year European Union (EU) budget if the country did not receive the one billion Danish kroner (174.2 million U.S. dollars) EU rebate per year that it has requested. "We must have our rebate, and if we do not get it, we must exercise our veto. It is very, very simple," Helle Thorning-Schmidt said to the Europe Committee of Danish Parliament, in comments cited by Danish news agency Ritzau. The Danish government has previously said that it requires this rebate to finance its new tax reforms, which could therefore be jeopardized if the rebate is not made. According to Ritzau, the Danish government has, so far, been confident of receiving the rebate. However, the rebate has been called into question since the EU has begun to increase financial integration of the 27-country grouping in an effort to boost growth amidst an entrenched debt crisis in the eurozone. The Danish government has earlier said that it puts strong emphasis on receiving its EU rebate, and Thorning-Schmidt's latest announcement implies that it is ready to block negotiations on the EU budget, which covers the period 2014-2020, if it does not get its way.