Brussels, 03/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The financial report for 2010, which was published by the European Commission on Friday 30 September, shows that Spain was the country which received the most from the budget of the EU for 2010. The net contribution of the United Kingdom to the European budget has doubled in three years, the financial report reveals.
Germany remains the top contributor to the budget of the EU with €20.7 billion, ahead of France (18.173 billion), Italy (€13.664 billion) and the United Kingdom (€12.145 billion).
The countries which received the most credits from the EU are Spain (€13.2 billion), France (€13.1 billion), Germany (11.8 billion) and Poland (€11.8 billion), ahead of Italy, which dropped down a place. In comparison to their gross national income (GNI), the greatest beneficiaries are Lithuania (5.9%), Estonia (5.8%) and Luxembourg (5.2%).
“It would be both simplistic and misleading”, said Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski, “to carry out a comparison between the amounts paid in by the member states and those they receive to determine the advantages of membership of the Union; this would be neglecting other advantages, such as contracts won by private businesses under the cohesion policy, the infrastructure which helps the smooth functioning of the single market, progress made by pooling efforts in the areas of research and innovation, commercial agreements negotiated on behalf the 27 member states, consumer protection and many other things.”
In 2010, the total expenditure was €120.490 billion, corresponding to an increase of €8 billion compared to the 2009 budget. The cost of the administrative expenditure of the EU remained virtually stable at €7.6 billion in 2010 (€7.4 in 2009).
Thanks to the seventh framework programme of research and development, more than 2000 small and medium-sized businesses (SME) and SME associations invested in research and development in 2010. More than 293,000 bursaries were granted to students and teachers. Additionally, €69 million was spent on nuclear safety, the geological storage of nuclear waste and radioprotection, a sum more than three times higher than the previous year.
Under the cohesion policy, European territorial cooperation allowed 5,800 businesses to be set up in 2010, and 115,000 jobs to be created or kept. The number of workers who directly benefited from money from the European Social Fund (ESF) was 6.234 million.
A total of €300 million was spent on controls on the external borders of the EU, the free movement of people within the Union and the effective management of problems related to migrants. In this framework, around 1,800 designated border crossing points were placed under surveillance by the Union, and 20 joint operations, for a total duration of 6,471 days, were carried out.
In 2010, the Commission maintained its policy of zero increase in staff levels. It also more than met its objectives for recruiting nationals of the 10 member states which joined the EU in 2004. Between 1 May 2004 and the end of 2010, it recruited 4,004 civil servants and temporary agents from the new member states which joined the Union in 2004 and 2007.
Nearly 70% of the EU budget is paid for by the budgets of the member states on the basis of their relative GNI. (DD/transl.fl)