Brexit, new challenges to force EU budget change - European Commission

[webfact]

Brexit, new challenges to force EU budget change - European Commission

By Jan Strupczewski and Elizabeth Miles

 

A man arrives for work at the EU headquarters as Britain and the EU launch Brexit talks in Brussels, June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

 

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will have to change the way it collects and spends its funds to cope with Britain's leaving and with other challenges, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

 

It suggested the bloc could tap into new taxes and make savings.

 

Britain contributes around 16 percent to the overall EU budget, or 10 billion to 11 billion euros annually, so its exit in March 2019 will create a financing gap that will be difficult to fill.

 

"We will have to save money because it will not be possible to make up completely for the gap," Budget Commissioner Gunther Oettinger told a news conference.

 

He presented a paper to be debated by EU governments this year, laying out options.

 

"The EU budget ... will change after 2020. This is certain -- the status quo is not an option," the Commission paper said.

 

The Commission outlined five scenarios, from a much lower to a significantly higher budget from 2020 under the headings of "carrying on", "doing less together", "those who want more, do more", "radical redesign" and "doing much more together".

 

Only the "doing less together", which assumes a much lower budget, keeps the current financing sources and levels unchanged. All others assume new revenue sources, or bigger national co-financing and a review of spending or both.

 

To fill the gap caused by Brexit, the document said, the EU could tap sources like corporate taxes, a tax on financial transactions, or levies on electricity, motor fuel, carbon emissions or proceeds from central bank currency issuance.

 

The taxes, collected nationally, could be passed on in part, or in full to the EU, especially if they were generated directly by EU policies -- like revenues from auctions under the Emissions Trading System or emission premia for cars.

 

The EU now gets its money from national contributions based on gross national income, from customs duties collected at all EU borders and from a tiny cut of national value added taxes.

 

To make savings for the EU budget, governments could take on some of the direct payments to farmers made by the EU under the bloc's Common Agricultural Policy, the paper said.

 

Governments could also put in more of their own money to finance projects funded by the EU under its cohesion policy -- aid to less developed regions to equalise living standards.

 

The EU could also try to make better use of existing funds, leveraging them to finance projects, similarly to its investment fund EFSI which is to generate some 500 billion euros of investment by 2020 by leveraging only 33.5 billion of own funds.

 

All this would could help finance new areas of EU activity.

 

"In the future, migration management, internal and external security, external border control, the fight against terrorism and defence will need to be budgeted ... alongside continuing investment to support stability and sustainable development in our partner countries," the Commission paper said.

 

MONEY AND THE RULE OF LAW

 

Under pressure from the EU's biggest countries, who are also the biggest net contributors to the budget, the Commission put in the paper an idea that disbursements from the next budget could be linked to governments abiding by the rule of law.

 

This is a clear reference to Poland which is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the EU budget and the only country the Commission is monitoring if it observes the rule of law.

 

EU officials say Poland has been ignoring the Commission's recommendations under the rule of law procedure, which call on the nationalist-minded government to respect the independence of the judiciary, media and civil rights.

 

The head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, has said he was against linking the rule of law procedure with budget payments. But there is growing pressure from Germany, France and Italy as well as Sweden to consider it.

 

"(French) President (Emmanuel) Macron saying the European Union is not a supermarket is the most strongly-worded expression of that," Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans told Reuters.

 

"I... fully understand the point made by the French president, you can't pick and chose, you can't say 'Give us the money and we don't want to hear anything else about European rules'," Timmermans said.

 

(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski and Elizabeth Miles; Editing by Philip Blenkinsop/Jeremy Gaunt)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-06-29

[mercman24]

ha ha got the  unelected scumbags running scared now going to miss our monthly millions  GOODBYE.  lol.

[trogers]

And which elected body makes the European rules?

[Baerboxer]

4 hours ago, trogers said:

And which elected body makes the European rules?

 

The European Parliament perhaps?

[roquefort]

"Governments could also put in more of their own money to finance projects funded by the EU"

 

Governments don't have their own money. They only spend other people's money.

[Usernames]

 

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Under pressure from the EU's biggest countries, who are also the biggest net contributors to the budget, the Commission put in the paper an idea that disbursements from the next budget could be linked to governments abiding by the rule of law.

 

In the US, this is how they impose unfunded federal mandates.

[robertson468]

How about cutting the salaries and pensions of the EU Staff, starting with the Commissioners?  Without the UK they have less funds to administer therefore less work to do.  Seems logical to me!  Hello, hello Eurocrats are you reading this?

[ilostmypassword]

1 hour ago, roquefort said:

"Governments could also put in more of their own money to finance projects funded by the EU"

 

Governments don't have their own money. They only spend other people's money.

Maybe you should try living where there virtually is no government. Deep in some rain forest. Or Somalia.

[the guest]

So how about asking all the other parasitical countries to contribute more, like Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania all didn't ask us to join, instead we were told by the EU eurocrats to accept these countries even though they didn't have money in the pot to contribute to the EU coffers. 

 

We had a good thing going until it got ruined by the idiots that now run the EU, thanks a bunch!

[ilostmypassword]

9 minutes ago, the guest said:

So how about asking all the other parasitical countries to contribute more, like Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania all didn't ask us to join, instead we were told by the EU eurocrats to accept these countries even though they didn't have money in the pot to contribute to the EU coffers. 

 

We had a good thing going until it got ruined by the idiots that now run the EU, thanks a bunch!

I'm not saying all or even most people who favored Brexit believe that the UK or any other nation doesn't have a say in whether or not to accept new members. But I don't think it's unlikely that a large number did. Just like the guest.

Here are the facts:

"Accession of a candidate state must be approved unanimously by the Council of the EU, which is made up of representatives from each member state, and ratified by all national parliaments. This gives each member state a veto over the process."

http://theconversation.com/fact-check-would-the-uk-have-a-veto-on-turkey-joining-the-eu-59844

[the guest]

2 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

I'm not saying all or even most people who favored Brexit believe that the UK or any other nation doesn't have a say in whether or not to accept new members. But I don't think it's unlikely that a large number did. Just like the guest.

Here are the facts:

"Accession of a candidate state must be approved unanimously by the Council of the EU, which is made up of representatives from each member state, and ratified by all national parliaments. This gives each member state a veto over the process."

http://theconversation.com/fact-check-would-the-uk-have-a-veto-on-turkey-joining-the-eu-59844

I believe it should have gone to a referendum by the ppl of EU. I think the outcome would have been much different.

[Xaos]

 

 

 

[ilostmypassword]

1 hour ago, the guest said:

I believe it should have gone to a referendum by the ppl of EU. I think the outcome would have been much different.

Now you're saying something different. The fact is that "instead we were told by the EU eurocrats to accept these countries even though they didn't have money in the pot to contribute to the EU coffers" is untrue. The EU does not have the power to admit new member nations on its own or order member nations to accept new nations into the EU.

[Grouse]

Judging by the tone on this thread, the EU will be a much nicer place without the UK. Such meanness, such nastiness.

[JAG]

Judging by the tone on this thread, the EU will be a much nicer place without the UK. Such meanness, such nastiness.

You must be reading a different thread to me. Only one post (#2) could perhaps be regarded ( by someone particularly sensitive ) as mean. I don't think any are nasty.

[Scott]

Troll post removed.  

[janclaes47]

13 hours ago, webfact said:

 

A man arrives for work at the EU headquarters as Britain and the EU launch Brexit talks in Brussels, June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

 

13 hours ago, webfact said:

"We will have to save money because it will not be possible to make up completely for the gap," Budget Commissioner Gunther Oettinger told a news conference.

 

A good start would be to reduce the extraordinary salary and benefits of that man that arrives at work, and all the others that work there.

[ilostmypassword]

 

Jayda Fransen 

 

✔@JaydaBF

Hundreds of trained jihadists are allowed into Britain but Polish patriots are deported!
God bless our Polish friends @jacekmiedlar

6:57 PM - 29 Jun 2017

 

Jayda Fransen guilty: Britain First Deputy Leader convicted after abusing Muslim woman in hijab

 

The deputy leader of Britain First has been found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment after she hurled abuse at a Muslim woman wearing a hijab.

 

Fransen admitted telling Ms Sharpe that Muslim men force women to cover up to avoid being raped "because they cannot control their sexual urges", adding "that's why they are coming into my country raping women across the continent".

 

Ms Sharpe was with her four young children at the time.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/jayda-fransen-guilty-britain-first-deputy-leader-convicted-court-muslim-woman-hijab-a7395711.html

Far-right Polish priest detained at Stansted airport

A notorious Polish priest accused of spreading antisemitism and Islamophobia has been detained by UK authorities hours before he was due to address a far-right rally in Shropshire.

Jacek Międlar, a leading figure for rightwing extremists in Poland, was held by UK border officials after landing at Stansted airport, Essex, to prevent him attending the controversial event in Telford.

. Anti-racism campaigners described Międlar’s scheduled appearance as further proof of the growing links between British extremists and nationalists abroad.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/25/far-right-polish-priest-jacek-miedlar-detained-at-stansted-airport

 

Edited June 29, 2017 by ilostmypassword

[William C F Pierce]

15 hours ago, mercman24 said:

ha ha got the  unelected scumbags running scared now going to miss our monthly millions  GOODBYE.  lol.

A lot less than than the amount Boris Johnson lied about during Brexit referendum campaign £350 million a week = £18 billion a Year.He has been so quiet lately he must know he has made a monumental mistake. He does not say anything anymore. Also the UK makes £220 Billion a year from the EU. Future taxation could very easily amount to more than 10 Billion Euros on British goods. Our net gain will eventually turn into a net loss.

Edited June 29, 2017 by William C F Pierce

[Stargeezr]

Reduce greatly, the number of people who are in Bussels running the show, save a lot on the wages alone.  The EU could start in this manner as it looks like way to many people there in the first place.

Geezer

[Khun Han]

1 hour ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Reduce greatly, the number of people who are in Bussels running the show, save a lot on the wages alone.  The EU could start in this manner as it looks like way to many people there in the first place.

Geezer

 

Goons are expensive. They won't work for monkey nuts. Germany understands this.