The 10 countries joining next year were angered to discover they would help finance the rebate, with Poland, the biggest applicant, expected to pay €232m (£160m) towards it in 2004.The issue is on the agenda of a commission working group on resources, to be chaired by Michaele Schreyer, the EU budget commissioner. Hers is one of six working parties that will prepare for the next spending round, from 2007-13. Their work will be used to draw up proposals to be negotiated at a summit in December 2005.The UK argues that, in recent years, its net contribution has been almost three times that of France. A British official said: “It is entirely expected that this will be discussed. Our position is clear, that the rebate is there to serve a useful purpose by making up the difference between the UK’s receipts [from the EU] and its expenditure.”The six working groups will look at a range of financial issues, including administration, citizenship and civil liberties, the EU’s global role, economic policy, and redressing the inequalities between states.. Zell Miller is a proud man, proud of his roots, pleased to call himself a hillbilly But don’t let anyone else try to address him as such And don’t even dream of poking fun.

And don’t even dream of poking fun.
The Georgia senator took the floor on Capitol Hill this week to criticise a television company he accused of seeking to mock hillbillies such as himself. “Mr President, CBS Television is currently planning what this great company called a hillbilly reality show,” he said, interrupting a debate over a judicial nomination.”I’d like to say a few words about that as a United States senator who happens to be a hillbilly. I can call myself that – but don’t you call me that,” he said. “Hillbilly is a term of derision.”Mr Miller criticised CBS for seeking to remake the Sixties hit TV show, which featured fictional hillbilly Jeb Clampett and his family who moved to a Beverly Hills suburb after discovering oil in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas. Researchers for The Real Beverly Hillbillies are combing the poorer, southern states looking for a family prepared to move to a mansion in the glitzy Los Angeles suburb CBS is convinced the show will be hilarious. “Imagine the episode where they have to interview maids,” said Ghen Maynard, an executive with CBS.But the proposals have angered many people, who say that a little-represented sub-section of American society would be humiliated for public entertainment.Mr Miller told senators: “Since the beginning of civilisation, there have always been some Homo sapiens who it seems have to have someone to look down upon; some group to feel superior to. For these kind of people, it is as basic to their human nature as the drive to reproduce or the urge for food and water They were there in the time of the Greeks and the Romans.

They can be found all through the Bible.”CBS insists it means no harm with the show, which would “follow the adventures of a large family when they move out of their rural home and settle into a Beverly Hills mansion”. Chris Ender, a CBS spokesman, said there was a long tradition of “fish-out-of-water” scenarios and the show may reflect the pretensions of urban living. CBS said yesterday it found Mr Miller’s comments “bizarre and unfortunate”.. He had surgery for prostate cancer earlier this month, and was conspicuous by his absence from several key party events. But by common consent, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts is emerging as the early leader in the chase for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, which could be decided less than a year from now.

But if buzz is the yardstick, Mr Kerry, who has been given a clean bill of health by his doctors, is ahead.He has enlisted high-quality campaign aides, and he has a strong legislative record and plenty of money. Long profiles have appeared in magazines such as The New Yorker. Only yesterday The New York Times proclaimed: “Kerry emerges as a frontrunner.”If so, a fierce battle lies ahead Mr Kerry already has seven declared rivals. Three of them are genuine heavyweights: the vastly experienced former House minority leader Dick Gephardt; Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000; and John Edwards, Senator for North Carolina, young, photogenic and widely seen as best placed to prevent a repeat of President Bush’s sweep of the South three years ago.Three rank outsiders are also in the field: the Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, ex-senator Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois, who is bidding to be the first woman President, and the firebrand civil rights activist the Rev Al Sharpton.In addition there is a potentially dangerous wild card – Howard Dean, a former governor of Vermont. Mr Dean is little known but he has a strong record on health care.