Belgium pays ever higher amounts to the EU, while it gets less and less back

The De Croo government presents itself as strongly pro-European, and this is also reflected in the budgets that go to Europe. “Belgium will pay EUR 7,6 billion to the European Union this year. That means we pay more than we get back,” says MP Sander Loones. “Now it appears that we will be getting even less from the coronavirus recovery measures. Belgium will get even EUR 1,4 billion less.”

Less coronavirus support

The National Bank has repeatedly confirmed that we pay more to the European coronavirus recovery fund than we get back. “Last week, the NBB The National Bank of Belgium (NBB) is the Belgian central bank. Since the introduction of the euro, the NBB is one of the participants in the euro system, in which the European Central Bank, with headquarters in Frankfurt, plays a central role. The National Bank of Belgium is currently a public limited company. Half of the shares belong to the Belgian State. NBB repeated this in the Parliamentary Finance Committee,” Sander Loones notes. “De Croo negotiated a bad deal. EUR 5,9 billion was going to come to Belgium. The NBB estimated that this is barely half of what other Member States receive on average. Now another EUR 1,4 billion will be deducted from it, which means that Belgium will receive even less compensation. Why does the Prime Minister not fight harder for our own needs and interests?”

More tax money for Europe

In addition to the coronavirus recovery fund, the general contribution to the EU also appears to be increasing. In recent years, more and more of our tax money has gone to Europe. “When the N-VA was in the federal government, this amounted to EUR 6,17 billion. With the De Croo government, the amount has now exploded to EUR 7,6 billion,” Sander Loones calculated. Every year, we thus now pay an extra EUR 1,43 billion to the EU, an increase of 23%.

“But in the meantime, Belgium’s deficits and government debt continue to rise. While many EU Member States defend their own interests more strongly, the De Croo government dutifully pays the bill.”

Calling for proper funding

The N-VA is calling for sound and proper European financing that makes all Member States and the EU responsible. This must also be reflected in the amounts that leave the Member States as general contributions to the European budget and in a new focus on the spending of the European budget.