EU divided on how to plug Brexit budget gap

When Britain leaves the EU at midnight on Friday the bloc loses the second-biggest net contributor to its budget, leaving a €12bn hole in its finances.

The European Commission has had a proposed MFF on the table since May 2018, and its new president Ursula von der Leyen is keen to get it approved soon. Charles Michel, president of the European Council which represents member state governments, has called an MFF summit that will “begin” on February 20 and is likely drag on.According to European Commission estimates, Britain’s net contribution — the amount it pays in less EU spending on UK projects — would have been €12bn a year.

This would allow Europe to switch funds to more “modern” areas, like investing in green technologies, coping with migration and moving into the defence field. Some of the richest members of the union want to limit contributions to only one percent of each member state’s GDP. After Brexit, these reductions in budget contributions will apply only to Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden — perhaps not un-coincidentally — the Frugal Five.

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