Europe – Hinterland https://hinterland.org.uk Rural News Fri, 15 Nov 2019 07:21:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 Britain’s annual bill for being in EU hits record £19.2 BILLION https://hinterland.org.uk/britains-annual-bill-for-being-in-eu-hits-record-19-2-billion/ Wed, 01 Aug 2012 20:39:09 +0000 http://www.hinterland.org.uk/?p=1362 Classic reactionary stuff on our relationship with the EU from the Mail in this article. It does however make me reflect on what rural and farming policy might have looked like should it have had a share of our net contribution of over £80 billion over the last 33 years. Or is that far too short sighted?

And after taking into account what the country gets back in subsidies for forming and regional development projects, Britain paid £8.4billion more than it received last year compared to £7.3 billion in 2010 – an increase of £1.1 billion. 

In total since 1979, Britain has paid in about £228 billion and has received back in benefits just £143 billion.

After Angela Merkel’s Germany, Britain is the second highest contributor of the 27 EU members

]]> Proposed EU budget hike will wipe out all Britain’s spending cuts https://hinterland.org.uk/the-proposed-eu-budget-hike-will-wipe-out-all-britains-spending-cuts/ Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:43:15 +0000 http://www.hinterland.org.uk/?p=247 This article, written by a Conservative MEP, explains: “Today, the Commission demanded a 4.9 per cent increase in the EU budget – on top of last year’s increase, which saw Britain’s net contribution rise by an almost unbelievable 74%.

“What does it need the extra money for? Five words: more staff on higher salaries.”

There is a real problem here, whether you support Europe or not –  and I still think in this country we have limited and confused perceptions of what our EU membership is about. Its benefits are often based on poor or biased reporting of key issues – the problem is that against the deep public sector cuts (which I would argue are having a disproportionate impact on rural places) the demand for this level of budget increase has a Marie Antoinette style ring to it.

In addition to the impact this article purports it will have on our spending cuts it also threatens to wipe out the engagement and enthusiasm many more positive Euro watchers than this individual have for our membership of the European Union. Or have I got it all wrong?

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