term budget envisages boosting EU spending to 1.14 percent of the Gross National Income (GNI) from 1.0 percent. The EU's six big paymasters, some of which are struggling to cut their budget gaps, object to this target. Austria, Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, all net contributors to the EU, want to cap EU spending at 1.0 percent of GNI, or some 100 billion euros annually. "The proposed financial perspective gives us instruments and means to match needs and ambitions of the enlarged EU," Huebner said. "I will do everything to get these proposals passed." She said she was against proposals by countries such as France to harmonise the corporate tax rates across the EU as means of preventing big corporations from moving their plants from the West to new member states. She reiterated her staunch opposition to a plan floated by France's finance minister to limit development aid to countries which levy corporate taxes at rates below the EU average. Politicians expect a tough fight next year over the long-term budget, not least because of the Commission's proposal to phase out a British rebate from Brussels' coffers and replace it with a partial refund for all major net contributors. --more 2303 Local Time 2003 GMT
