The following press release from Vlaams Belang demonstrates that out of all the countries in Europe, Flanders pays the most per capita to support the EU
No one pays more to the EU than a Flemish citizen
A Fleming pays twice as much as a Walloon, triple as much as a Briton and five times more than a Frenchman.
It was already known that, from the 27 EU-member states, 15 are net recipients and 12 are net contributors. Belgium is a large net contributor. The Vlaams Belang group in the European Parliament, led by Frank Vanhecke, has now calculated how much each citizen of Flanders and Wallonia pays each year. The result is surprising: with 1780 million euro net, not a single EU-country pays more per head than Flanders: each Fleming pays 282 euro net per year.
This is more than the 272 euro each Dutchman pays per year. This is almost twice as much as a Walloon pays (164 euro). It is also double the amount of a German’s contribution (114 euro) and almost triple as much as that of a Briton. It is even five times more than the 53 euro a Frenchman pays and the 49 euro an Italian contributes.
The 2007 ‘hit parade’ of the largest EU-contributors looks like this:
| 1. | Flanders | 1780 million euro divided by 6.3 million inhabitants = 282.6 euro/Fleming | ||
| 2. | The Netherlands | 4464.1 million euro divided by 16.4 million inhabitants = 272 euro/Dutchman | ||
| 3. | Luxembourg | 117 million euro divided by 476.187 million inhabitants = 245.7 euro/Luxembourger | ||
| 4. | Wallonia | 690.5 million euro divided by 4.2 million inhabitants = 164.5 euro/Walloon | ||
| 5. | Denmark | 817.4 million euro divided by 5.4 million inhabitants = 151.3 euro/Dane | ||
| 6. | Sweden | 1280.2 million euro divided by 9.1 million inhabitants = 140.6 euro/Swede | ||
| 7. | Germany | 9393.6 million euro divided by 82.3 million inhabitants = 114.1 euro/German | ||
| 8. | Great Britain | 6156.6 million euro divided by 60.8 million inhabitants = 101.2 euro/Briton | ||
| 9. | Austria | 639.7 million euro divided by 8.2 million inhabitants = 78 euro/Austrian | ||
| 10. | Cyprus | 49.2 million euro divided by 778.684 inhabitants = 62 euro/Cypriot | ||
| 11. | France | 3362.3 million euro divided by 63.3 million inhabitants = 53.1 euro/Frenchman | ||
| 12. | Italy | 2938.3 million euro divided by 59.1 million inhabitants = 49.7 euro/Italian | ||
| 13. | Finland | 229.1 million euro divided by 5.2 million inhabitants = 44 euro/Finn |
Vlaams Belang advocates solidarity on a European scale, between rich and poor countries and regions, but thinks that Flanders and the Netherlands contribute far too much. Frank Vanhecke, former chairman and Vlaams Belang MEP, calls therefore on the Dutch parties to form a Flemish-Dutch front for an absolute limitation of the EU-contribution, namely 200 euro per head. Therefore, the European Union needs to save, for example by abolishing the traveling circus of Brussels-Strasbourg (200 million per year) as well as the scandalous severance payment of more than one million euro for European Commissionaires, and by cutting in the large number of redundant ‘agencies’.
Frank Vanhecke
Vlaams Belang Member of the European Parliament
3 comments:
Collecting money is one issue and distributing it another. Many Germans live under illusion we benefit as "poorer member". But Prague right now is richer than Berlin and our border areas are expected to help developping the German neighbourhoods. The French invested a lot of money in nineties to destroy our agriculture. Who cares? Who would write or read an article about that anywhere in the "West"?
The Poles find cheap housing just crossing the German border etc. etc. It will get tricky and messy, if we try to find out what EU did to different countries or provinces.
It might look like "investition" in short term and crippling strategy in long term. The lobbies in Brussels might tell us more. But do we have enough money to ask questions?
The British MPs'expenses scandal is likely microscopic compared with the corruption of the EU. It took a sassy American to force stuffy British lawmakers to come clean over their expenses.
Perhaps there is yet another ambitious or 'sassy' reporter ready and willing to break the EU story of the century?
Here's just a tip of that iceberg:
European Parliament ‘sign in , sod off’ culture
Does anyone know how this formula was set up? Is it on GDP per capita or something else?
Post a Comment