Cost of EU membership
Monday 15th March 2010
The Cost of British Membership of the European Union 2008 - figures in billions
- Direct Costs - fact
- Britain's Direct Contribution £14.6
- EU spending in UK
- Mainly CAP and Social & Regional Development fund £5.20
- Remember this is our own money and much of it is used for EU
propaganda
- Rebate - negotiated by Thatcher in 1984 approx £5.10
- UK net contribution approx £4.30
- This figure will rise to about £6.8 during the current
accounting period (2007 - 2013) because Blair surrendered part of
our rebate in 2006. It could rise even further due to the
weakness of the pound.
The UK is the second largest net contributor after Germany - Indirect Costs
- The CAP forces up the price of food and the cost is estimated at £16.8
- 19% of British agricultural imports come from outside the EU,
and these are subject to the Common External Tariff.
This equates to £20 extra a week on the food bill for a family of four people. - Common Fisheries Policy which has destroyed our Fishing Industry £3.30
- This is the value of the lost catch alone, never mind lives
and communities ruined
- EU over-regulation: This has been estimated at 2% of GDP £28.0
- Only 10% of businesses trade with the EU but 100% have to
comply.
The Chambers of Commerce put this figure a lot higher - Hidden Costs
- Additional payments to EU institutions and EU related
projects estimated £3.00
- TOTAL gross £65.7
- TOTAL net £55.4
- The net figure equates to £915 for every man, woman and
child a year, or £1799 for every
tax-payer
- For the fourteenth year running the European Court of
Auditors has been unable to sign off the accounts. They cannot
even account for 5% of the EU budget (6 billion euros)
- Truly accurate figures are difficult to obtain even for the
"Direct costs", so you may see different figures quoted, and some
people are still quoting 2006 or 2007 figures. However they will
all be in the same ball-park
These figures have been produced by Gerard Batten, UKIP MEP
RC
13.04.09