Britain asked to cough up £1.9 billion to the EU

NexusK · 24 Oct 2014 at 12:14

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29753529

Now to be absolutely clear, none of this is a surprise to the Treasury or chancellor. British officials have known for some time that the inflammatory demand from Brussels was coming.

What did catch them by surprise was what it sees as a deliberate leak by EU officials of the news last night - which they see as an attempt to embarrass David Cameron, as he meets other EU leaders to discuss, among other things, his controversial hopes of being able to restrict migration of EU nationals to Britain.

Stelly · 24 Oct 2014 at 12:18

You can imagine France and Germany getting together and pondering how they can get more monies into their economy... "I tell you what" says France... "Lets get the UK to foot the bill!"

Stelly

eatcustard · 24 Oct 2014 at 12:21

as he meets other EU leaders to discuss, among other things, his controversial hopes of being able to restrict migration of EU nationals to Britain.

This will help DC, Euro will only get the dosh if he gets his way.
So may not be as bad as we think.

jsmoke · 24 Oct 2014 at 12:30

I reckon this is partly do with DC publicly trying to block Jean-Claude Juncker as PEotEC. Also as said party due to the upcoming referendum. The EU is starting to turn into old school cronyism as if it wasn't already.

anything I don't mind · 24 Oct 2014 at 12:30

There are bigger issues at play than just stopping mass immigration. Watch that lecture i posted and you will see that stopping excessive mass immigration is just one part of why Britain should leave the eu.

Zethor · 24 Oct 2014 at 12:50

robfosters said:
I will take issue with that. I was in the diplomatic service for 6 years, although I was more involved in European consular issues than political issues. Although the two did overlap quite often.

But I consider myself educated enough. I just can't be bothered to sit writing out long, drawn out diatribes on a computing forum. There are much more important things in my life to spend my time on.

If you can't be bothered to present a coherent argument for your point of view, there are other ways to prove your point. You could post a link to an analysis that shows the massive negative impact the EU has had on the UK.

In example:
http://econ.economicshelp.org/2007/03/benefits-of-european-union.html

Or perhaps a projection of the huge benefits the UK will get once it leaves the EU. Assuming the UK will still exist, as Scotland will probably leave it and join the EU.

That's the problem of the anti-EU mob, you can't back up your claims. You've got slogans ('Dey terk er jerbs!') , youtube videos, populist nationalist rants and not much else.

John40 · 24 Oct 2014 at 12:56

Zethor said:
If you can't be bothered to present a coherent argument for your point of view, there are other ways to prove your point. You could post a link to an analysis that shows the massive negative impact the EU has had on the UK.

In example:
http://econ.economicshelp.org/2007/03/benefits-of-european-union.html

Or perhaps a projection of the huge benefits the UK will get once it leaves the EU. Assuming the UK will still exist, as Scotland will probably leave it and join the EU.

That's the problem of the anti-EU mob, you can't back up your claims. You've got slogans ('Dey terk er jerbs!') , youtube videos, populist nationalist rants and not much else.

That link you put up is written by somebody who puts his name, address and mobile phone number up, looks very very professional, probably still at school.

Terminal_Boy · 24 Oct 2014 at 13:13

Is there any proof that France has ever been a net contributor to the EU coffers?

SciNeT · 24 Oct 2014 at 13:14

Caught something about this earlier on Radio 2, appeared that we contributed £17bn to Europe last year, received back £3bn odd in rebates and £5bn 'ish in regional grants but where did the balance go? Who/what gets the remainder of our £8bn+ contribution?

koolpc · 24 Oct 2014 at 13:14

Doesnt surprise me people!

anything I don't mind · 24 Oct 2014 at 13:15

That article is non sense zethor. It is basically taking any positive economic indications that they can find and holding the eu up as the reason for it. There has been positive economic indications in spite of the eu. Not because of it.

There are many books and articles that have pointed out the negative impact the eu has had. You just have to look for them.

Terminal_Boy · 24 Oct 2014 at 13:18

We'll pay once we've seen an audited set of EU accounts.

Oh wait...

Vidar · 24 Oct 2014 at 13:20

I'm against the EU but lets face it, even if we do get out of it is our self governance going to be any better for people with the likes of Cameron, Clegg and Miliband running the show?

anything I don't mind · 24 Oct 2014 at 13:21

Zethor said:
If you can't be bothered to present a coherent argument for your point of view, there are other ways to prove your point. You could post a link to an analysis that shows the massive negative impact the EU has had on the UK.

In example:
http://econ.economicshelp.org/2007/03/benefits-of-european-union.html

Or perhaps a projection of the huge benefits the UK will get once it leaves the EU. Assuming the UK will still exist, as Scotland will probably leave it and join the EU.

That's the problem of the anti-EU mob, you can't back up your claims. You've got slogans ('Dey terk er jerbs!') , youtube videos, populist nationalist rants and not much else.

From the same website

http://www.economicshelp.org/europe/disadvantages-eu/

Zethor · 24 Oct 2014 at 13:22

John40 said:
That link you put up is written by somebody who puts his name, address and mobile phone number up, looks very very professional, probably still at school.

Instead of reading and educating yourself (particularly by clicking the links which lead to studies and scientific papers), you focus on the most irrelevant pieces of information found on that page, which proves my point. You'd probably find a huge banner saying 'EU IS GOOD' more compelling than, say, Nauro F Campos' paper who, by the way, is indeed still in "school" as a Professor of Economics and Finance at Brunel University.

There are many books and articles that have pointed out the negative impact the eu has had. You just have to look for them.

Links?

Is there any proof that France has ever been a net contributor to the EU coffers?

France has contributed more than the UK over the years.

http://www.eu-oplysningen.dk/euo_en/spsv/all/79/

Unicorn · 24 Oct 2014 at 13:23

Germany economy is downhill?? They have more work contracts here worth more than £1 million than any UK Companies will have.

How do they evaluate all this just wondering

jas72 · 24 Oct 2014 at 13:27

I'll just leave this line highlighted

Fiorilli said that the commission and Eurostat use 1995 as the benchmark year for calculating the impact of GNI figures. “Member states including Britain insisted on this. It is their decision,” he said.

So member states insist on recalculating the GNI since 1995 then when they don't like the answer they start throwing their toys out of the pram....

1995 doesn't seem like recent times what am I missing?

robgmun · 24 Oct 2014 at 13:32

Unicorn said:
Germany economy is downhill?? They have more work contracts here worth more than £1 million than any UK Companies will have.

How do they evaluate all this just wondering

Sounds like some creative account going on so they can benefit while others sink.

They couldn't defeat us in WW2 so they're trying it again via the economy

Zethor · 24 Oct 2014 at 13:34

anything I don't mind said:
From the same website

http://www.economicshelp.org/europe/disadvantages-eu/

Did you even read the article and the links included? The benefits outweigh the costs/disadvantages.

The cost of the EU is a relatively small percentage of overall UK government spending.

The UK does receive a rebate from the EU (€ 3.8 billion a year) because it gets a relatively small amount from CAP – though there is pressure to reduce this rebate from other EU members. The UK has also received regional funds over the years.

The CAP and other policies are being reformed. If the UK stays in the EU it can help to promote policies which work in the long-term interest of the UK.

The EU Health Insurance Card enables EU citizens to receive emergency healthcare on the same terms as the citizens of the EU country they are visiting (often free). (Euro-movement)

A popular idea is that immigrants are more likely to receive welfare benefits and social housing. The suggestion is that Britain’s generous welfare state provides an incentive for people to come from Eastern Europe and receive housing and welfare benefits. Whilst, immigrants can end up receiving benefits and social housing. A report by the University College of London, suggests that :

EEA immigrants have made a positive fiscal contribution, even during periods when the UK was running budget deficits.
This positive contribution is particularly noticeable for more recent immigrants that arrived since 2000 in particular from EEA countries.

NexusK · 24 Oct 2014 at 13:35

jas72 said:
I'll just leave this line highlighted

Fiorilli said that the commission and Eurostat use 1995 as the benchmark year for calculating the impact of GNI figures. “Member states including Britain insisted on this. It is their decision,” he said.

So member states insist on recalculating the GNI since 1995 then when they don't like the answer they start throwing their toys out of the pram....

1995 doesn't seem like recent times what am I missing?

It doesn't seem like they're annoyed at the bill itself, it's the leaking it to use against Cameron and also only giving a month to pay it. They knew it was coming, it's the way it's been handled that is the problem.