The UK, Italy and The
Netherlands got ‘punished’ by the European Commission for better than expected
economic results, through a massive after-tax to the tune of (combinedly)
billions of Euros. To the ears of many inhabitants of these countries, this after-tax
sounded unfair and perhaps it was?!
The whole soap opera about the
unexpectedness of these payments, however,
complete with the whining and jawboning by the government leaders, was pathetic
and for the domestic political stages alone. Still, it sheds an unfavourable
light on the impopularity of European Union payments.
Perhaps it was one of the most embarrasing and pathetic
European political events of 2014.
About one week ago, the United Kingdom, Italy and The Netherlands received a massive after-tax bill from the European Commission, with a
staggering total of over €3 billion euro‘s, 'for
better than earlier forecasted’ economic results. On top of that, a number of other
countries – including Greece(!) – received a relatively small after-tax bill for the same economic results.
"Invoice
payable before December 1st, 2014! Kind regards, the European Commission".
On the other hand, other countries – like especially France,
Denmark and Germany – received (considerable) rebates on their earlier paid EU
premiums, to the tune of hundreds of billions of Euro’s, for ‘worse than
expected’ economic results.
This is visible in the following two charts; data courtesy of the European Commission:
 |
| Annex 1: VAT - GNP/GNI own resources adjustments for years 1995 - 2013 Data courtesy of European Commission Click to enlarge |
 |
| Annex 2: Financial impact of the VAT- GNP/GNI adjustments for the memberstates Data courtesy of European Commission Click to enlarge |
While the rebate receivers silently counted their blessings and disguisedly opened a bottle of real French Champagne, the 'losers' of this verdict (i.e. the economic winners of the pack) screamed, whined and jawboned, like a tourist in the centre of Amsterdam after being robbed by a pickpocket.
According to PM David Cameron, the Italian Prime Minister
Matteo Renzi had screamed that this after-tax was ‘not just a number, but a lethal
weapon’, while Cameron himself stated, ‘that
he would only pay this bill when hell froze over’! Or something
like that.
Dutch PM Mark Rutte and chairman of the Euro group, annex Finance Minister Jeroen
Dijsselbloem played the murdered innocence and told the media that they didn’t
see this one coming, at all. They were shocked…, really, SHOCKED to the bone… by
this insult, coming from the European Union!
Britain has been told
to pay an extra €2.1bn to the EU budget within weeks because of its relative
prosperity, a hefty surcharge that will further add to David Cameron’s domestic
woes over Europe.
To compensate for its
economy performing better than other EU countries since 1995, the UK will have
to make a top-up payment on December 1 representing almost a fifth of the
country’s net contribution last year. France, meanwhile, will receive a €1bn
rebate, according to Brussels calculations seen by the Financial Times.
The one-off bill will
infuriate eurosceptic MPs at an awkward moment for the prime minister, who is
wrestling with strong anti-EU currents in British politics that are buffeting
his party and prompting a rethink of the UK’s place in Europe.
Mr Cameron is
determined to challenge the additional fee and on Thursday night met Mark
Rutte, the Netherlands premier, to discuss the issue. His country is also being
required to make a top-up payment, although it is smaller than the UK’s at
€642m.
George Osborne, chancellor, on Friday
denounced the decision as having been made by “junior officials” in the
“bowels” of the commission. Interviewed
on Sky News, he said that once he had learned of it, Mr Cameron was
“immediately” on the phone to other European prime ministers presented with
demands who were “similarly surprised”. “It speaks to the wider complaint about
Europe,” he said of the process. “It’s relationship with Britain is not right
at the moment.”
Mr Rutte said he was
considering possible legal action to reverse the ruling.
“This is an unpleasant
surprise and raises many questions,” he said. “We will get to the bottom of
this and of course will be asking for detailed clarifications from the
commission.”
A few days later, the European Commission replied drily,
with a sub-zero tone of voice, that the financial data had been sent to the government
leaders more than a week earlier and nobody had responded to it, until then.
De
Volkskrant:
The European
Commission should not be blamed for an after-tax, which has been charged to
certain member states. The after-tax has been calculated, based on data coming
from the member states themselves. This was stated by European Commissioner
Jacek Dominik (Budget Issues), during a special press conference with respect
to the after-tax charge. In his opinion, the member states had no other option than to pay their
dues.
Commissioner Dominik
explained the high after-tax for certain countries by pointing out that some
pending questions and disputes had finally been settled, after – sometimes – many years. Such disputes
concerned f.i. the settlement upon the question, which financial data exactly belonged to the gross
domestic product. ”We don’t want to be accused of abuse, when we simply want to
improve the national statistics”.
Dominik told that he
was genuinely surprised by the extremely critical response from PM David Cameron to the after-tax. ‘Until now,
there was no signal whatsoever from the United Kingdom, that the government had
a problem with the after-tax’.
Cameron and Rutte made a big show of it, during
the EU summit of last Thursday and Friday, in spite of the fact that they had
been informed one week earlier. ‘The member states have all been informed on
October 17, in Brussels as well as in the residences of these countries. Everybody
knew about it’.
The whole pathetic media show by Renze, Cameron, Rutte and
Dijsselbloem was worth four Oscar’s for best leading and supporting performances.
It was all barkin’ and no bitin’ by these four government ‘leaders’ and it was totally meant for domestic purposes, at the political stage and in the local media:
“Look fellows. We battled for you and we did our utmost to prevent our
country from having to pay this money, but well uhm… contract is contract, y’know.
We can’t help but paying it. Always the same ol’ same ol’ with those darn
commissioners in that darn European Union.”
Because that is what will
happen eventually, when the gunsmoke has drifted away: these countries will have to pay their dues!
Commissioner Jacek Dominik was totally right, when he
countered that the government leaders had been informed in advance, at least
one week earlier.
In the meantime since this Volkskrant article, this has already been admitted by Dutch
Finance Minister and Chairman of the Euro-group Jeroen Dijsselbloem. Although he did not admit to have known these
data himself one week earlier, he stated that his officials had indeed heard these
numbers before.
As far as Dutch PM Mark Rutte himself is concerned and especially
what and when he knew about this after-tax and the amounts mentioned in it, I happily
quote former US minister of Defence, Donald
Rumsfeld:”There are known
unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know”.
I dare to add to this legendary quote, that I strongly
believe that PM Mark Rutte did know these after-tax data in advance, but he
didn’t want to spoil his Oscar-worthy performance in the Second Chamber of
Dutch Parliament. Can I be wrong? I can be wrong!
What bothers me even more about this pathetic after-tax show
of the last two weeks, however, is that all countries are still treating the
European Union as a big slot machine: everybody wants to get more money out of
it, than they have thrown in.
The events of the last weeks show that the EU countries
still keep their mouths shut, when they receive substantial rebates from the
EU, but immediately start to whine and jawbone, when they have to pay more
money for it; even when this is justified by their own financial/economic data.
This sheds a very stinging light on the impopularity of these very necessary –
and probably well-spent – EU payments and especially on the abuse of European
politicians, with respect to these payments, when this is in their political
interests.
You can’t see the EU and the European Commission as the
aforementioned slot machine: the EU does not deserve that. Most things that the
EU does are in the interest of all European countries and help to make the European
Union as a whole a better and more stable place. Such contributions are a necessary means
to let the EU survive as a political and executive apparatus.
Of course, the EU is far from perfect in many aspects, but
frankly, I have been more annoyed by local politics and local government in The
Netherlands lately than by the European apparatchiks.
And the European Commission does especially not deserve to be treated in the cowardish and offensive way, that it
has been by British PM David Cameron of the BUTP (i.e. "the British UKIP and Tory
Party") and his peers in Italy and The
Netherlands.
These four clowns Cameron, Renzi, Rutte and Dijsselbloem should
stop with their cowardish stance in this matter and should quickly develop into
real leaders, who take their own country and the whole European Union by the
hand.
You must realize, that these are the same leaders who have failed time
and time again, in finding a solution for the fierce and enduring economic
problems of the European Union.
When the European economy has indeed started to improve more
structurally since 2014, this fortunate development cannot be written on the
accounts of messrs Cameron, Renzi, Rutte and Dijsselbloem. That is for sure!
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