EU sends London notice of 2.7 billion

brussels - The European Commission is demanding an arrears of 2.7 billion euros from the British government. Brussels has sent a letter of formal notice to London because the British refuse to pay customs duties for clothing and shoes from China. The customs duties of the Member States are one of the sources of income for the annual EU budget.

The United Kingdom was asked last year to deposit nearly 2 billion euros in lost customs revenue in the Brussels cash after the OLAF fraud service of the EU had established that importers are fraudulent on a large scale.

The British had been warned for years about possible fraud in the import of textiles and footwear from China, but they did so. For example, women's pants were fictitiously valued at 91 cents per kilo, while only the market price of cotton was 1.44 euro per kilo.

The commission has calculated that the damage for the EU budget in the period from November 2011 to December last year amounts to 2.7 billion euros.