Berlin (Reuters) – According to a study, Germany remains by far the number one net contributor to the European Union (EU) despite the economic crisis.
Last year, Europe’s largest economy paid 13.1 billion euros more into the EU than it received from it, as a study by the German Economic Institute (IW Cologne) shows. This was available to the Reuters news agency in advance on Wednesday. However, the weak economy in Germany is making itself felt: in 2022, net payments were 19.7 billion euros, and in 2023 they were 17.4 billion euros. The current value roughly corresponds to the average of 13.5 billion euros from the pre-Brexit years 2014 to 2020, when Great Britain was still paying into the pot.
In second place is France, which paid out 4.8 billion euros more last year than it returned. Italy follows in third place with a net contribution of 1.6 billion euros. The largest net recipient is Greece with 3.5 billion euros, followed by Poland (2.9 billion euros) and Romania (2.7 billion euros). In 2023, Poland was clearly in first place with 8.1 billion euros.
“IN ECONOMIC CRISIS, CONTRIBUTIONS BECOME SMALLER”
“The EU budget is a reflection of the economic balance of power in Europe,” said IW expert Samina Sultan. High-growth countries like Poland have recently received less support. “Germany and France are the EU’s problem children,” Sultan added. “Their economic crisis is also reflected in the declining contributions to the EU budget.” Because of the ongoing slump, the Federal Republic could again pay less net in 2025. “Since Germany is, according to current forecasts, growing below average compared to other European countries this year, the German net contribution is likely to continue to decline for the current year,” said Sultan. The EU Commission only expects stagnation for Germany after two years of recession. In contrast, France is expected to grow by 0.7 percent in the coming year, Spain by 2.9 percent and the EU as a whole by 1.4 percent.
Net, every citizen in Germany paid around 157 euros to the EU last year – that also means first place, followed by Ireland with 130 euros. Until 2020, the EU Commission itself published its statistics on net contributors and recipients. However, she has now decided not to do so for political reasons, according to the IW. “Although the effects of European integration cannot be reduced to the net positions of the member states, their calculation is still important for reasons of transparency,” emphasized the institute.
SPECIAL EFFECT: SPACE PROGRAM
According to the calculations, the highest amount from the EU budget flows to Luxembourg, at 560 euros per capita. But this is due to special effects such as the European Union’s space program, according to the IW. This is followed by the three Baltic states of Latvia (547 euros), Estonia (444 euros) and Lithuania (435 euros).
Since the Corona crisis, the “NextGeneration EU” reconstruction fund has supplemented the budget and financed investments in the areas of digitalization and climate protection. If you add both pots together, according to the IW, Austria, Sweden and Ireland bear the greatest burden in terms of their economic output – around 0.5 percent each. Germany follows in sixth place with 0.35 percent. On the receiving end, Latvia leads the ranking by a wide margin: the country receives 3.12 percent, followed by Estonia with 1.93 and Croatia follows with 1.73 percent.
(Report by Rene Wagner, edited by Sabine Ehrhardt – If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)
