Daily Management Review

The European Union wants to increase fees from tourists and taxes due to Brexit


01/12/2018


The EU budget will lose up to 15 billion euros due to Britain's withdrawal from the bloc.



Steven Depolo via flickr
Steven Depolo via flickr
The European Union is looking for ways to compensate for the loss of 12-15 billion euros per year in its budget due to Britain's withdrawal from the bloc. The European Commission wants to do this through fees received from foreign tourists, as well as taxes on plastic packaging and fees for greenhouse gas emissions.

The EU is facing heavy negotiations on a new budget, which will be in effect from 2021 for a minimum of five years. The United Kingdom is now sending more funds to the overall budget than it is taking away from it. Therefore, Brussels wants the remaining 27 members of the bloc to increase their contributions after Brexit.

However, the European Commission offers other ways to increase the revenues of the EU budget. Since 2020, the system of authorization of entry into the EU (ETIAS) for foreigners who have the right to visa-free entry into the Schengen zone should be put in place. These are citizens of, for example, countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand; the United Kingdom will join them after leaving the EU. It is expected that annually the border fee will be levied with 30 million travelers. It was assumed that it would be 5 euros, but now the EU authorities are thinking of increasing this amount.

Brussels also wants to introduce a plastic packaging tax throughout the EU to reduce the damage to the environment. European Commissioner for Budget Gunther Oettinger said that this tax will be announced in May. But Brussels has not yet decided whether consumers or producers will pay it.
In addition, the European Commission wants that the fees charged by countries for greenhouse gas emissions go not to national budgets, but to the general budget of the EU.

Changing the tax system in the EU requires the consent of all members of the bloc. Yet, the countries involved in it jealously guard the sphere of the national tax policy and have long resisted the attempts of Brussels to increase revenues through taxes operating throughout the Union.

The EU budget for 2014-2020 is 960 billion euros. According to Oettinger, a gap of up to 15 billion euros will occur in the future budget because of Brexit; he wants to cover half of the falling receipts at the expense of spending cuts, and the other half - by attracting new funds. The largest payers to the EU budget are Germany and France, the main recipients are Poland and Romania.

Approximately 75% of the budget of the EU goes to subsidies to agricultural producers and the development of the poorest countries of the bloc. President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker previously ruled out a drastic reduction in costs for these purposes. In addition, Brussels promises to protect the financing of the student exchange program Erasmus.

source: ft.com