Talk:UK rebate

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[edit] largest net contributor

The article mentions under History "Currently the rebate is worth £3bn (GBP) a year and the UK remains the second largest net contributor after Germany." I've always heard the Netherlands is the largest net contributor. So I tried to find out and the BBC agrees: [1], see graph halfway through the page. What it does say in the BBC article though, is that the UK likes to compare itself to like-sized countries and then it's second after Germany. But that isn't clear in this article. Mtcv 23:47, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

How could Germany be a beneficiary of the UK rebate when it it is also a net contributer to the EU [budget? I am not sure what the graph means, can you explain.--Silverback 07:31, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps the difference is because of the total amount of money a country contributes, and the amount of money per capita. Per capita the Netherlands currently are the largest net contributor (at least till 2007), but I would presume that Germany pays a lot more as it is a lot bigger. However, I do think one should state clearly whichever method is used in determing 'the greatest net contributor'.

Yes, the sentence is clumsy. 'Despite the rebate, the UK remains the second largest net contributor after Germany.' I am currently looking for some sensible figures on different countries contributions. There are some somewhere, I saw them once.

[2]

If France, and Britain continue to veto changes to the rebate and the CAP, what would be the position of countries' net contributions in, say, five years' time? David Jones, Aldershot, England

The European Commission says that between 2008-13, if the same system is used, the average net contributions would range from 0.56% of gross national income (GNI) for the Netherlands to 0.54% for Germany, 0.41% for Italy, 0.38% for Austria, 0.37% for France and Cyprus, 0.31% for Denmark and 0.25% for the UK and Finland.

You can see why the UK likes the rebate. Without it, it would be the biggest net payer at 0.62% of GNI.

There is another graph from the BBC at [3], showing a different figure. It is captioned net givers and takers 2004, but it is not clear to me if it includes the rebate, and it is certainly not definitive since the rebate is only finally calculated retrospectively 4 years later.Sandpiper 22:20, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

Yes, Netherlands is, in percentage of GNI, the largest net contributor to the EU budget. In 2002, the net contribution was equal to -0,51% of its GNI, but Germany is the largest net contributor in absolute terms with, in 2002, -5067,8 Millions Euros, againts -2187,7 M€ of the Netherlands (which is actually the fourth largest after germany, italy and the UK). In some year (i.e. 1997) Germany has been the largest net contributor also in percentage of GNI.

I think it's important to remember that the net contribution is a relative concept, since it's basically related to accounting and doesn't take into account other real and indirect benefits (i.e.: Polish highways, financed by EU funds, have been built by German firms, or: ERASMUS funds go to the students of a country, say, spain, but then those students spend their money in the host country, say, germany). About the rebate and its possible solution: it has been introduced in the 70s, when the UK was the second poorest country in the EEC, because of UK's small gains despite its large contributions to the CAPs, at the price of a large distortion in the EU budget. Nowadays the situation has drastically changed and the UK is far above the EU average GDP, but, obviously, the british don't want to leave their privilege, unless the CAPs, which are the source of their 'loss' in the contribution are cancelled, thing that makes France, the largest beneficiary, worse off. Until unanimity on the financial perspective is required, i think it's hard to solve this dispute unless France or Britain give in some of their national interest for the good of the all European Union --Nebu87 (talk) 12:08, 12 April 2008 (UTC)