Status: 29.12.2022 06:52 a.m
After Brexit, the German contribution to the EU budget has risen to a record high. As the largest net contributor, Germany transferred 25.1 billion euros more to the joint coffers than it received from there.
Germany’s contribution to the European Union’s budget has reached a record high. According to calculations by the dpa news agency, the Federal Republic was by far the largest net contributor among the member states in 2021: Germany contributed around 25.1 billion euros net to the EU’s joint expenditures. The bottom line was that 12.4 billion euros flowed into the EU coffers from France and around 3.2 billion euros from Italy. This takes into account the payments to the EU minus the EU funds that flowed back to the states from the community budget.
Poland and Hungary are large net recipients
According to the calculations, the largest net recipient in absolute terms was Poland, which received around 11.8 billion euros more from the EU budget than it paid in. It was followed by Greece with 4.5 billion euros, Hungary with around 4.1 billion euros and Romania with almost four billion euros.
The figures are politically explosive, above all because of the large flow of money to Poland and Hungary. Both states have come under criticism because they are accused of serious violations of the rule of law and other fundamental values of the EU. For this reason, only certain funds from the Community budget earmarked for Hungary have been frozen for the time being.
The EU Commission, which is responsible for both the EU budget and compliance with the rule of law in the EU, did not want to comment on the figures when asked by dpa. The authority has not published the balance sheets for some time because it fears that the figures could be used politically – for example by EU opponents in the net contributor countries. In addition, the Commission points out that the EU budget is very small compared to the national budgets and that the benefits of EU membership cannot be derived from the budget figures alone. For example, it is argued that the financial advantages that export nations like Germany have from the free movement of goods were left out.
German contribution increased after Brexit
In 2020, the German net contribution to EU finances was around 19.4 billion euros, lower than in 2021. During the negotiations on the EU financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027, however, the Federal Republic and the other net contributors then agreed to their contributions to be increased again in order to largely compensate for the loss resulting from the exit of the net contributor Great Britain.