Cameron says "no pressing need" to pay EU bill

British Prime Minister David Cameron Monday told the country's parliament that there was "no pressing need" for Britain to pay 2.1 billion euros (2.67 billion U.S. dollars) to the European Union (EU).

Cameron insisted that he would stick to his promise not to pay the bill by the Dec. 1 deadline, despite a warning of a substantial fine.

"It is not just about the scale of the money being demanded, it is also the timetable," Cameron told parliament.

"The (European) commission admits it does not actually need this. So there is no pressing need for the money to be paid," he said.

Britain and other member stats were informed of the new budget calculations at an EU summit last week. The amount is based on a calculation of how well the economies of member states have fared since 1995.

Cameron responded angrily last week to the new budget, based on data showing that Britain was wealthier than previously thought, that Britain owed more money to the EU.

"This is completely unacceptable," said Cameron.

"It is an unacceptable way for this organisation to work, to suddenly present a bill like this for such a vast sum of money with so little time to pay it, and it is an unacceptable way to treat one of the biggest contributors to the European Union," said Cameron.

However, EU Budget Commissioner Jacek Dominik voiced surprise at Cameron's angry reaction.

Dominik warned it would be risky for Britain to seek to change the current agreement over member states' contributions to the EU budget.

"No Member State has refused to pay this increase of their contribution in favour of the Britain," said Dominik in a statement.

"Britain will benefit from the Britain rebate for the additional payments in 2014. This will be budgeted in May 2015 when the Britain rebate is recalculated," he added. The bill threatens to deepen growing Eurosceptic sentiment in Britain. Cameron has promised a British referendum on EU membership by 2017 if he wins an election next year. Enditem