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Summaries of EU Legislation

EU Member States’ contributions to the EU budget

Date of last review:
15/07/2022
Initial creation date:
16/09/2015
Summarised document(s):
Author:
Publications Office of the European Union
Responsible entity(ies):
Council of the European Union

EU Member States’ contributions to the EU budget

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 609/2014 on the methods and procedure for making available the traditional own resources based on value added tax and gross national income and on the measures to meet cash requirements

Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2021/770 on the calculation of the own resource based on non-recycled plastic packaging waste

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THESE REGULATIONS?

  • They lay down the rules setting the methods and procedures by which European Union (EU) Member States make available the EU’s own resources. Own resources make up the vast majority of revenue that finances the EU budget; they comprise:
    • customs duties charged on imports from outside the EU (25% of which are retained by Member States to cover collection costs);
    • revenue based on a share of the value added tax collected by Member States;
    • revenue based on each Member State’s gross national income (GNI)1; and
    • revenue from each Member State based on the quantity of non-recycled plastic packaging waste it generates (since ).
  • These regulations also define the measures to meet cash requirements (i.e. cash flow needs) where appropriate.
  • Regulation 609/2014 has been amended twice, by Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2016/804 and Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2022/615.
  • Regulation 2021/770 introduced the plastics-based own resource in 2021.

KEY POINTS

Making own resources available

  • The own resources need to be made available so that the European Commission can make the necessary payments agreed in the budget.
  • Specific rules set out the arrangements by which Member States make available the various types of own resources.
  • The amounts made available are adjusted in the following years based on the out-turn of the value added tax and GNI base, the plastics-based own resource and any subsequent modifications as soon as these are fully known.
  • The modifications in the GNI data made after the end of each financial year also impact the financing of the gross reductions2 (reducing the GNI-related contributions of certain Member States).
  • Where a Member State opts out of a specific EU action or policy, it is entitled to a reduction of the amount it has paid in own resources for each year in which it has not taken part.
  • Each Member State must credit its own resources to the account opened in the name of the Commission with its treasury or its national central bank, or to a central account opened by the Commission with the public financial institution it has appointed for that purpose.
  • If there is a delay in making own resources available, the Member State is required to pay late interest.
  • Member States have to keep separate accounts for entitlements related to traditional own resources which have not been recovered. They must provide details about these accounts and submit quarterly statements to the Commission. This enables the Commission to monitor the action taken by Member States to collect own resources, particularly those compromised by fraud or irregularities.
  • Member States have to keep accounts and documentation regarding the own resources that they collect so that the Commission can inspect them where needed.

Cash requirements

  • Member States must make the own resources available in the form of monthly twelfths of the total to ensure that the EU budget can be financed in all circumstances.
  • Each month, the Commission transmits by electronic means to Member States a forecast of the cash resource requirements for the following 4 months.

Dispute resolution

  • Member States may ask the Commission to launch a review procedure if they have doubts regarding a payment obligation.
  • Member States are entitled to make payments under reservation in case of disputed amounts, in order to stop the accumulation of late interest.

FROM WHEN DO THESE REGULATIONS APPLY?

Regulation 609/2014 has applied since . It revised and replaced Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 and its subsequent amendments.

Regulation 2021/770 has applied since .

BACKGROUND

For further information, see:

KEY TERMS

  1. Gross national income (GNI). The sum of incomes of the residents of a national economy in a given period.
  2. Gross reductions. Lump-sum corrections to reduce the annual GNI-based contributions of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden to the EU budget.

MAIN DOCUMENTS

Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 609/2014 of on the methods and procedure for making available the traditional, VAT and GNI-based own resources and on the measures to meet cash requirements (Recast) (OJ L 168, , pp. 39–52).

Successive amendments to Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 609/2014 have been incorporated in the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2021/770 on the calculation of the own resource based on plastic packaging waste that is not recycled, on the methods and procedure for making available that own resource, on the measures to meet cash requirements, and on certain aspects of the own resource based on gross national income (OJ L 165, , pp. 15–24).

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