Council Decision (EC, EURATOM) 2007/436 is the legal basis currently in force. The own resources ceiling, which is now calculated on GNI, remains virtually unchanged at 1.23%. Total revenue was €130 billion in 2011.
The UK rebate means that its contribution is lowered by a reimbursement. Based on a complex statistical calculation, it changes every year. It was worth €3.6 billion in 2011, reducing the UK contribution by around 24% to €11.3 billion. Austria, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands benefit from a reduction in their contributions to the financing of the UK rebate. The same four countries also enjoy temporary correction mechanisms until 2013. Their estimated effect on the draft budget for 2012 ranged from €95 million for Austria to €1.6 billion for Germany.
Any estimates of MS’ budgetary balances are necessarily based on assumptions, including on the items to be considered in calculating revenues and payments. According to the Commission, “combining only the two or three most important assumptions […] produces no fewer than 30 to 40 perfectly defensible definitions of budgetary balances”, each of them giving different results and sometimes significantly so for smaller MS.
While the Commission publishes operating budgetary balances, it emphasises the fact that this is an accounting allocation which does not provide an exhaustive picture.
Be the first to write a comment.