Almost twice as much as France - Why Germany has to pay more to the EU than anyone else despite the crisis

FOCUS online Almost twice as much as France - Why Germany has to pay more to the EU than anyone else despite the crisis Article by Author Oliver Stock • 56 million • 4 minutes reading time When comparing EU contributions and income, Germany is the Union's paymaster - despite the difficult economic situation. The Commission claims that Germany benefits much more than the figures show. The figures that the German Economic Institute (IW) in Cologne has now calculated are as follows: Last year, the Federal Republic transferred 17.4 billion euros more to the European Union than it received from it. In second place, by a clear margin, is France, which paid around nine billion more to Brussels than it got out. The biggest beneficiary, however, is Poland: the EU passed on 8.2 billion euros more to Poland than it received from the country. In 2022, Germany's contribution was even higher at 19.7 billion euros. The reason for the decline is the weak economic situation, which is likely to have an impact this year too. Net payments could shift somewhat towards Spain and Portugal this year, where the economy is doing better than in Germany. In terms of per capita payments, Ireland was in the lead last year with net payments of around 236 euros per inhabitant. The Germans are in second place by some distance: 206 euros per capita in this country. So are we the paymaster, even though Germany should not be able to afford this economically? Countries with a lot of agriculture and low wages benefit The contribution to the EU budget is determined as follows: First, each country calculates its so-called gross national income (GNI) according to a predetermined system that is the same for all. The GNI records all income of German citizens and companies, regardless of whether it was earned domestically or comes from abroad, which is the main difference to the gross domestic product. The EU has its own income, for example its external customs duties. The uncovered majority of the budget is paid by the member states, which pay a uniform percentage of their GNI into the EU budget, with Germany having by far the highest gross national income. On the other hand, those countries that receive a lot of money because of a high agricultural share or those in which people earn comparatively little benefit. Germany does not belong to either group, which is why the money that comes to us from the EU is comparatively modest. Germany has always been the largest EU contributor The European Union's budget in 2023 totaled 173.1 billion euros, of which 143.4 billion euros went to the member states and the rest went to third countries. In addition, there was credit-financed spending as part of NextGeneration EU (NGEU), the EU's post-Corona reconstruction program, amounting to 66.1 billion euros. Overall, EU budget spending was around 6.8 billion euros below the 2022 level, which can be explained primarily by a decline in so-called cohesion spending, i.e. the money used to equalize living conditions in the EU. Germany has always had to pay the largest share of the EU budget. Since Britain's exit, this has increased significantly again. Before that, it averaged 13 to 14 billion euros. Joint spending is becoming more important than regional funding So much for the somewhat laborious figures. What does Germany gain from its net payer position? The Institute of Economics does not provide any information on this. The study authors simply state soberly: "The calculation of payment flows can, for example, show the extent to which the EU (...) pursues redistribution policies. The calculation can show whether similarly wealthy countries also have similar net payments and whether similarly poor countries are similarly high net recipients." The EU itself is also resisting the "net payer" debate. An explanatory paper from the European Commission states: With agricultural funds and regional funding (cohesion policy), it is possible to see to some extent: what does a member state pay in and what does it get out? But these budget items are shrinking and will only make up about a third of the EU budget in the future. The common tasks for the future are becoming more important. The EU defenders list: progress in European security and defense policy, a common climate protection and energy policy, joint investments in research and innovation, cooperation between European law enforcement agencies, the euro - all of this has its value.