Belgium gives more to the EU than it receives: “De Croo negotiated a bad agreement”
The question of the money paid by the European Union has not finished agitating the parties. On Thursday, Secretary of State Thomas Dermine (PS) revealed that the sum expected under the recovery plan would be lower than expected. “Belgium will receive 4.5 billion in European subsidies for its recovery plan. […] This means a loss of nearly 1.4 billion compared to the envelope of subsidies planned by the European institutions at the time of the development of the plan (autumn 2020).
On the other hand, Belgium will pay 7.6 billion euros to the European Union this year, calculated Sander Loones. “As a result, we pay more than we recover”declares the deputy N-VA who takes up the figures presented by the National Bank of Belgium (BNB) in the parliamentary finance committee. “De Croo negotiated a deal. Belgium was to receive 5.9 billion euros. The BNB calculated that this is barely half of what other states received from members on average. And now 1.4 billions of additional euros will be deducted, which means that Belgium is even more underserved.”
7.9 billion euros is the amount of the general Belgian contribution to the European Union. “When the N-VA was in the federal government, this contribution amounted to 6.17 billion euros. With the De Croo government, the amount rose to 7.6 billion euros”calculated Sander Loones.
“It is absolutely correct that Belgium is a net contributor to the European budget”answers us the cabinet Dermine. “But this is not new. And at the level of the Europe of 27, Belgium is not the only one in this case. The Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Finland and Austria are also net contributors.”
If these countries “pay” more than what they “receive”, it is because the claims for this funding are not quantified directly in a defined sum. This participation has an indirect impact which would not be measured in the calculation of the Flemish nationalists.
The Dermine cabinet recalls that the recovery plan was designed as insurance between Member States. “It helped avoid falling back into the dramatic situation in the euro zone that we went through between 2010 and 2012. This plan instilled confidence and created the crisis stability that Europe needed in the spring and summer. 2020. Alongside all the socio-economic support measures adopted at the national level, it has suppressed the strength of the economic recovery that we have revealed following the reopening of the European economy, including that of our small country. “