The EU budget is based on the principle that expenditure should match revenue. It is financed from the following sources: a percentage of each EU country’s gross national income, based on its wealth; customs duties on imports from outside the EU; a small proportion of VAT levied by each EU country; a contribution based on the amount of unrecycled plastic packaging waste in each EU country; other revenue, such as contributions from non-EU countries to certain programmes, interest and late payment fees, and any amounts left over from the previous year. These sources are known as own resources. The EU is currently discussing new own resources to diversify and reform its revenue sources. In future, these could be linked to greenhouse gas emissions or company profits, for example.
In addition, the EU Treaties give the European Commission powers to borrow on behalf of the EU on international capital markets. Since 2021, the Commission has been raising funds on capital markets to finance NextGenerationEU, its Covid recovery plan. These commitments will be repaid over a long period until 2058.
AND ALSO
The annual budget is equal to Denmark
The EU serves 27 countries with a total population of 450 million people. Given these figures, the EU’s annual budget is actually quite small – around €160-180 billion per year in 2021-2027. This is comparable to the national budget of Denmark, which serves 5.6 million people, and around 30% smaller than the budget of Poland, which serves 38 million people. The EU’s annual budget is part of the EU’s long-term budget, which covers seven years. This long-term budget enables the EU to secure the resources to finance its policy priorities. The size of the EU’s long-term and annual budgets is determined by the governments of the 27 countries and the European Parliament in order to implement the EU’s policy priorities.
“Europa Viva” every Sunday.
From migration to housing and public transport policy. Don’t miss “Europa Viva” on air on Sundays (10:30). CMTV, a programme showing what MEPs do and how the lives of Portuguese people are affected by decisions made in Brussels and Strasbourg.
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.