DGermany becomes the biggest contributor again IThe gap between Germany’s contribution to the EU budget and the returns of EU funds rose to 15.5 billion euros in the 2020 budget year-a record high. This makes Germany the largest contributor to date, ahead of the United Kingdom, which has made a huge contribution of 10.2 billion euros before finally leaving the EU internal market in 2020.
The main contributors also include France and-which is often overlooked in Germany-Italy. If you link contributions to economic output, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Austria will put completely different countries together with Germany-it is these countries that ultimately failed to oppose the higher EU multi-year budget and contribute to the new crown virus. The defense development fund totals 1.8 trillion euros.
All of this is not surprising in the end. This number may be slightly higher than in previous years. But this painting year after year. Contributions depend to a large extent on the economic strength of countries, and Germany is the strongest country in the European Union. Obviously, Germany’s contribution will continue to increase. This is especially because the UK will no longer be the main contributor.although Federal government In the multi-year EU budget negotiations from 2021 to 2027, an annual discount of approximately 3.7 billion euros will be implemented. Nevertheless, the net contribution-depending on economic development-may increase to around 20 billion euros.
Is it good or bad? This is a good point of contention. In the final analysis, the amount of contribution to the EU only indicates the fees paid by the EU to member states. Whether an individual comes to the conclusion that EU payments are “quite expensive”, or the contribution is just “quite expensive”, cannot be determined from the difference between EU contributions and returns.This European Commission It is not entirely wrong to believe that this kind of staring at the so-called “Juste retour” in EU terminology, that is, the EU funds are fully returned to its own country, concealing the view that each country gains from membership. European Union.
Silence provides ammunition for skeptics
This is by no means just a peace dividend that is widely quoted. For exporting countries like Germany, these are all advantages brought about by the smooth trade in the EU’s internal market. German companies also benefit directly from EU assistance to countries such as Poland, because it gives them orders that they would not otherwise receive. All of this can be credited to the debit side of EU contributions. Of course, one can also argue that the EU’s internal market is also possible if there is no generous transfer of funds between member states by bypassing the EU budget. As one might suspect, if Germany’s investment in the EU decreases, European peace will be threatened.
However, in order to argue, facts must be on the table—and this is where the real scandal lies. The European Commission no longer publishes donation figures. The public release of the annual report was initially cancelled a few years ago, and the data was secretly released on the Internet only during the summer trough. This year, it did not even do so. If you want to know how high the contribution of each state is, you have to calculate it yourself.
Eurosceptics abused net donations to incite anti-EU sentiment, and the Commission used this as a reason to justify this. Obviously, she does not believe that her argument has enough weight to pass. A big mistake in reasoning is that by keeping the numbers quiet, the committee is more likely to provide ammunition to skeptics. After all, if there is no problem, why should she hide it? In addition, reasonable criticism of the EU’s high expenditures and donations is indirectly equivalent to the EU’s suspicions.
Billions of Poland and Hungary
Discussions on how to deal with Poland and Hungary, which have been criticized for serious violations of the EU’s rule of law and other basic values, also showed how sensitive it is to silence the flow of donations. Both countries are the main beneficiaries of the EU budget. Poland recently received funds from Brussels by 13.2 billion euros and Hungary 4.8 billion euros more than it paid. This is equivalent to no less than 2.6% and 3.6% of their respective economic output.
In this case, these numbers don’t show how expensive it is, but rather look at EU values from a purely financial perspective-so if they move further away from EU values, where and how would you really hurt them.
