European Commission provides additional arguments in support of its proposal for the EU’s next long-term budget

The European Commission has today released additional figures making the case for its proposal for the EU’s next long-term budget as put forward on 2 May 2019. These figures illustrate why the benefits of European Union membership extend well beyond budgetary receipts and why the narrow focus on ‘net balances’ is flawed. The Commission underlines that the budgetary balance concept cannot measure the benefits of EU Member States being part of the single market, addressing the challenge of migration and fighting terrorism and climate change together. Neither has it measured the business opportunities that cohesion policy – the EU’s main investment policy – creates for businesses across the Union. Put simply: The EU contributes significantly to the economies of its Member States and this must be taken into account in any calculations presented. More information is available online here. Factsheets with additional details in all EU languages are available here and here.