Leo Varadkar criticised European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for offering Ireland a bad proposal that saw the country contributing a lot of the EU budget without getting much back. The now-former Irish Prime Minister went on to admit that he accepts Ireland will have to pay more than other countries in the next seven years. Mr Varadkar said: “I met with President Michel and President von der Leyen last night and the proposal on the table is one we can’t accept.

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“Essentially it means Ireland will contribute much more to the EU budget but will actually receive less back in terms of payments to Irish farmers and also funds for regional development and social development.

“We accept that as a country, as a growing economy will full employments we will have to pay more into the EU budget over the next seven years.

“But we can’t accept in return for paying more in we would see very significant cuts to cap and to cohesion funds.

“That’s not something we can accept and I made that very clear to President von der Leyen and President Michel last night.

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