Brussels, 09/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - Before welcoming his European counterparts to the resort of Scheveningen on Friday and Saturday (see EUROPE of 8 September, p.7), Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm warned Gordon Brown's insistence that the British rebate was "not negotiable" was not sustainable. In an interview with The Financial Times of Thursday, he says that "even in Britain, people can understand if countries are in the same position but get different treatment. That is something that cannot be prolonged for ever". Mr Zalm is "sure that Britain will take part in the debate" when ministers tackle financial perspectives at the informal Council. It is true that the country is isolated in defending the mechanism that gives it special treatment as all States - not only net contributors but also the poorer countries - help to fund the British rebate. Such preferential treatment no longer seems justified given that the EU has enlarged and that conditions have changed, with the United Kingdom becoming the leading EU member in terms of GDP per capita. The Commission's proposals to be discussed mainly introduce a generalised budgetary correction mechanism for the period 2007-2013, which would gradually eliminate the British rebate from 2008 to 2011. To be more specific, the system provides for the rebate to be generalised to all countries whose net contribution exceeds 0.35% of its GDP, with a ceiling of EUR 7.5 billion (see EUROPE of 15 July).