Finland to pay considerably more to European Union in coming years
Commission: More costs from enlargement
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Finland is likely to see its financial contributions to the European Union increase considerably in the coming years.
The European Commission says more money is needed to cover the costs of EU enlargement. It is estimated that in a few years from now Finland will be putting many times its current level of payments to the EU’s coffers.
Finland is already a net contributor to the EU - that is, it pays more to Brussels than it gets in agricultural subsidies and other benefits.
Last year Finland’s net contribution to the EU was EUR 123 million. By 2013 the sum could reach as high as EUR 880 million.
The amount of the fees to be paid depends largely on ongoing financial negotiations for the EU’s next seven-year period 2007 - 2013.
The present membership dues correspond to just over one percent of the GDPs of the member states. Nevertheless, the talks are expected to be exceptionally difficult, with all countries trying to maximise their own benefits.
The worst case for Finland would be if the dispute were still unresolved when Finland holds the presidency in the latter half of 2006.
The Commission wants to invest more money in research and development work to shore up the gap between Europe and the United States. Other costly items include infrastructure projects, such as railways, which cross the EU’s internal borders.
The Commission also wants to expand student exchange in the EU, hoping to triple the number of students studying in an EU country other than their own to about three million.
The European Commission has proposed increasing spending, because the enlargement of the EU would bring additional costs. The largest net contributors of the EU have sharply rejected the proposal.
Finland has officially taken a more moderate position. In the Finnish view, spending can be increased, but not by as much as the Commission is proposing.
Finland’s greatest fear is that its poor areas might lose the highest regional support that they are now entitled to. This would mean a loss of about EUR 100 million a year.
Finland could also lose a good deal of its rural development funding, as the Commission wants to favour the poorest areas of all. Finland now gets a whopping seven percent of EU rural development funds - about EUR 300 million a year.
Helsingin Sanomat
