EU surcharge deadline to be delayed until after the general election

Telegraph

Confidential diplomatic proposals seen by the Telegraph indicate that 1 June or September 2015, safely after elections next May, is the “foreseen new deadline” for the revised British payment to the Brussels budget. The delay, designed to give political breathing space, was granted at the request of the Government but any failure to reduce the overall surcharge will be controversial for Tory backbench MPs.  ........EU finance ministers are expected to ask the European Commission to amend Brussels regulation 1150/2000 to prevent an “automatic” surcharge on the 1 December in order to allow for “exceptional flexibility with regard to the time period for payment”.
The sum will then be paid off on an instalment plan over “a reasonable period of time”, according to the compromise proposal."