Britain's Departure Likely to Cost EU Billions

[secret.simon]

The Brexit Bill - Britain's Departure Likely to Cost EU Billions.

Commissioned by the European Commission and the General Secretariat of the European Council, the first calculations on how expensive Brexit might be for the 27 remaining member states have now been completed. According to one paper, net revenues that flow into the EU from Britain each year range from 14 to 21 billion euros. If you subtract the money Britain gets back from Brussels, the EU budget would shrink by up to 10 billion euros per year.

But it could be even worse. The rebate to Britain's EU contributions negotiated by Margaret Thatcher has led to more than 110 billion euros in savings for the British over the years. Given that other net payers, including Germany, did not want to be made responsible for the additional costs this created, they were also given a rebate. In addition to Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria and Denmark also currently enjoy a reduction in what they must pay into the budget. After Brexit, this spat could intensify, especially given that France, which is also a net payer, doesn't get any rebate at all.

...

In 2015, the study found, Britain was in second place: The British paid 12.7 billion euros more than they got back from the EU. By comparison, Germany paid 15.6 billion. The paper also determined that the British paid more into the EU per capita than Germany did that year. "After this country's withdrawal from the EU, this net amount will have to be redistributed among the other member states," writes CEP report author Matthias Kullas. "The other major net payers -- especially Germany, France and Italy -- will be facing significant additional costs."

[Petaltop]

And this from your article.


"Brexit could also lead to painful shortfalls for the European Investment Bank (EIB), Kullas calculated. If the British were to withdraw their share capital in the development bank, it would result in a shortfall worth billions. The EIB would be forced to make fewer loans -- loans that are vital for infrastructure projects across the Continent."

[Petaltop]

When did France become a net payer? They always took a sizeable chunk of the CAP and the CAP did used to be the majority of the EU budget. Is this why France never had a rebate when other EU countries got it - because they weere a net taker then? I know France has had to share that CAP more since poor Eastern European countires joined.

From you article, if the CAP is reduced further to try to compensate for some of the loss of the UK billions to the EU budget, I can't see France being happy with that suggestion.

[Petaltop]

When did France become a net payer? They always took a sizeable chunk of the CAP and the CAP did used to be the majority of the EU budget. Is this why France never had a rebate when other EU countries got it - because they were a net taker then? I know France has had to share that CAP more since poor Eastern European countires joined.

From your article, if the CAP is reduced further to try to compensate for some of the loss of the UK billions to the EU budget, I can't see France being happy with that suggestion.