3 ms·

I think I know where you are coming from, for a nation 1% is significant, but I don't think you realize what the EU budget is used for. 47% subsidies for farme

by olau 8y ago

I think I know where you are coming from, for a nation 1% is significant, but I don't think you realize what the EU budget is used for. 47% subsidies for farmers, 30% regional support subsidies (e.g. they might co-found an R&D project in an outermost region in a country): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_the_European_Union#Proportional_outgoings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_the_European_Union#P... So mostly subsidies. If there's a deficit, they can cut the regional subsidies which I believe are mostly individual projects with relatively short timespans. The farming subsidy is more like social security, I think you'd have riots in France if you cut that significantly. Which is sad.

andrewla 8y ago
That is a good point. I guess in theory the fact that the amounts are rebated from the next budget could provide an incentive for individual members to push for increased fines, but given the reduction would be proportional, and national budgets are so much larger than these amounts, it wouldn't really amount to a significant national budget windfall.