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> in fact the UK has been a net contributor to the EU for a long period of time Your membership fee was lower (per-capita, per-GDP) than other countries. That
by gonvaled 10y ago
> in fact the UK has been a net contributor to the EU for a long period of time
Your membership fee was lower (per-capita, per-GDP) than other countries. That membership fee has bought you services, the same services that other countries have been enjoying, and paying at a premium compared to the UK. The UK has been a member of the EU by its own decision for over 30 years. Nothing to complain about there. On the other hand, EU members which have been paying premium membership price should very seriously consider adding to the exit bill whatever rebates have been granted to the UK during all these years.
> As we are leaving the EU will we in some way get to reclaim some of the assets paid for over the period of time? Do we get the roof of the parliament in Strasbourg?
When I am renting an apartment, and I need to pay for something that needs repair, I do not ask for money back whenever I leave. There may be some assets that you have a right to claim a stake in, though. There are also some open bills. That is a matter of exit negotiations.
By the way, who is paying for the financial burden that the negotiations themselves are going to put in the EU? I hope that is also a matter of negotiations, and since it is a UK decision to leave (which we respect), the UK must contribute specially to those costs.
> And given the current alignment of rules I wouldn't imagine it would be a huge burden
1. Since there will not be automatic law alignment, we can not guarantee this long-term
2. There won't be a framework to enforce this, since the EU will have no jurisdiction in the UK, and vice versa. Creating a third-party enforcement framework seems too big of a burden.
> Once we've left, well paying associated costs may be a sensible thing to do, but that's for us to decide!
For you ... and for the EU. As said, I do not think it is in the interest of the EU to deal with issues at these level of detail with each potential partner. We already deal with this at the EU level, put it in to law, and let the common EU enforcement mechanisms do the management. No need to duplicate this structure for each partner and each scheme that our partners would like to enjoy.
A better solution, discussed at length, would be to negotiate access to the EU market (which includes these kind of schemes) with the UK. But this has already been ruled out by Theresa May, since it assumes acceptance of the four freedoms.
- programmernews3 10y agoExcluding Germany, Britain’s contribution is more than the total net contribution of the 26 other EU states combined. https://i1.wp.com/order-order.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/eu-£250-miillion.png https://i1.wp.com/order-order.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01...
- gonvaled 10y agoA bit more context would be helpful for such a complex issue. That's for 2015. Total? What about per-capita? What about per-GDP? Are you expecting Malta to contribute more than the UK?
- programmernews3 10y agoWell one way to look at it is that the other 27 countries will have to increase their contributions just to break even, or reduce spending.
- NetStrikeForce 10y agoWell, the UK has massively benefited from its EU membership. I don't think we'll have that much money around after we leave, our trade will take a hit, our companies will have less access to EU talent (which is massively needed in IT at least), so we will be less competitive. I do think all that extra money we paid in the EU was easily recovered. It's going to be ironic when we have less money around than before paying into the EU :(
- pc256 10y agoI think they were referring to net contributions - Malta is a massive net recipient per capita (https://inews.co.uk/explainers/charts/much-uk-pays-eu-much-get-back/ https://inews.co.uk/explainers/charts/much-uk-pays-eu-much-g...)
- gonvaled 10y agoNet contributions are misleading. The members pay a fee according to their population and GDP. According to that, the UK is paying little. What happens with those paid fees is complex, but agreed between the members. Roughly described: * the fees go to the EU budget * some of the fees are used to pay for EU administration * some of the fees are used to pay for EU projects * one big program is "Investment in depressed regions, EU-wide". The UK is not a big beneficiary of this program because fortunately its regions are relatively rich. Some regions are poor, and they do receive funds. The reason why the UK is net contributor is because it is a rich country. Its gross contribution is small, GDP and capita-wise.
- pc256 10y agoI agree we had a reasonably good deal - but the net contributions weren't massively different from other large nations (France, Germany, Italy) [1]. In my view that's very different from leaching. > When I am renting an apartment, and I need to pay for something that needs repair, I do not ask for money back whenever I leave. There may be some assets that you have a right to claim a stake in, though. There are also some open bills. That is a matter of exit negotiations. I don't think anyone sensible would be suggesting the EU refund all the contributions made whilst we were members. As for negotiations, I wouldn't fancy being a horse in the near future. > By the way, who is paying for the financial burden that the negotiations themselves are going to put in the EU? I hope that is also a matter of negotiations, and since it is a UK decision to leave (which we respect), the UK must contribute specially to those costs. The EU itself devised the mechanism for leaving the EU so this should have probably been specified at the time - if it wasn't then it probably wasn't a great piece of legislation. > For you ... and for the EU. Yes, I only mentioned the UK as I imagine the EU isn't going to bend massively so it will be more a case of whether the UK wishes to agree to certain terms set out by the EU rather than crafting a UK-specific deal. Though I guess we'll find out. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/nov/22/eu-budget-spending-contributions-european-union https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/nov/22/eu-bud...
- falsedan 10y ago> When I am renting an apartment, and I need to pay for > something that needs repair, I do not ask for money back > whenever I leave. When I am renting, and something needs repairing, I tell the landlord & they arrange for it to be fixed (and pay for it). (I don't understand this metaphor)
- cs02rm0 10y agoWho cares what the membership fee was without considering how that fee is redistributed? The UK is one of very few net contributors. They haven't leached, quite the opposite.
- gonvaled 10y agoThat fee is not money you put in for nothing, you put in for the services you get. The question is if the UK has paid its fair share, adjusted for population and GDP, for the services it got.