Brexit side-effect: Budget row looms for EU

With start of the Brexit process a row over the EU's future budget is now looming. The loss of the British contribution will leave a large hole in the budget, and several countries including Austria and the Visegrád states have already warned that not they but the net contributor nations must fill the gap. Observers anticipate that the budget row will create more problems for the EU.

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Milliyet (TR) /

Germany will no doubt have to foot the bill

Brexit will have a major financial impact on the EU, Milliyet explains:

“Britain is the third biggest contributor to the EU budget after Germany and France. That means that the EU is losing one of its key financial backers. In 2015 Britain contributed 18.2 billion euros. That's 15.4 percent of the total EU budget of 118.6 billion euros. At the same time the country received only half of that sum from the EU budget. So the question now is how the deficit left by the Brexit can be covered. A serious row over the budget may soon start in the EU. Already many countries have signalled that they are not in a position to contribute more. It's clear that Germany will be forced to take on Britain's share of the contributions, because the others are determined not to reach into their pockets.”

Denník N (SK) /

Net contributors won't be eager to pay up

The demands of the Visegrád states are unacceptable, Dennik N comments:

“ Denmark and Sweden have already made it clear this week that they have no intention of increasing their contribution once the British leave. The net contributors won't increase their payments without their citizens putting up a fight - and certainly not for the sake of countries that behaved as selfishly as the V4 did in the refugee crisis. Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and his colleagues have only just reaffirmed their migration policy and their rejection of refugee quotas at their summit in Warsaw. … These four countries would be better off starting to cut their public spending and reduce our economies' dependence on EU subsidies.”