Brussels, 06/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Monday the European Commission announced that contributions from several Member States to the EU budget for 2005 would again be reduced, this time by an overall amount of EUR 526 million. This is the second time this year that the Commission has revised the contributions of Member States downwards. After an initial reduction last May, made possible by the 2004 budget surplus (EUROPE 8949), the Commission has explained that the publication of new economic data (rate of growth, inflation, interest rates, etc.) and a surplus in external action guarantee funds (EUR 526 million) to propose a new amended budget. Therefore the United Kingdom will see its contribution for 2005 reduced by EUR 909 million and Germany by EUR 320 million. Other countries will benefit from more modest reductions: - Hungary (-85 million), Austria (-37 million), Portugal (-22 million), Netherlands (-17 million), Denmark (-12 million), Slovenia (-8 million), Lithuania (-6 million), Malta (-5 million), Slovakia (-2 million). On the other hand, contributions from other Member States will increase: - Belgium (+133 million) and Spain (+163 million) due to their upward forecasts for VAT and GNI revenue - Czech Republic (89 million) and Poland (318 million) due to variations in interest rates; - Sweden (+59 million); - Ireland (+58 million); - France (+25 million); - Cyprus (+16 million); - Latvia (+13 million); - Greece (+12 million); - Finland (+8 million); - Luxembourg (+2 million); - Estonia (+1 million); - Italy (+1 million). De New economic data was also used for calculating funding for the British rebate, estimated at around EUR5, 185 million this year. Commissioner for the budget, Dalia Grybauskaité, welcomed this “This is good news. This will benefit Member States which will have added resources for national budgets. They also now have a clearer picture of their contributions for this year.”