£39bn Giveaway — What is the EU planning to spend your money on?
What Theresa and Olly agreed to fund with taxpayer money
The full extent of what the British people have already been paying for — and what Theresa May and Olly Robbins agreed to keep on paying for under the ‘Withdrawal Agreement’.
In recent days more articles have been published about the legal arguments over the ‘Financial Settlement’ or ‘Divorce Bill’. These articles have focused on the legal facts of why almost none of this payable. Today I exclusively bring you the list of everything for which the EU has demanded payment, and which it hoped the UK would accept in the ‘divorce bill’. To the EU’s amazement, the Theresa May government acquiesced.
The EU lists 139 bodies, funds, & basic programmes
The UK is paying for these already and under the PM’s surrender treaty
it will keep on paying for years, as part of ‘the divorce bill’
11 Institutions and consultative bodies
6 Executive Agencies
34 Decentralized Agencies
2 ‘Other Entities’
8 Joint Ventures
1 Associate Fund
2 Funds Not in the Consolidated Accounts
4 Trust Funds for other countries
6 Bodies Not in the Consolidated Accounts
65 ‘Basic Programmes’
For the details of each, please see below.
The extraordinary scope of what the British taxpayer has been paying for
And the EU demands we keep paying for all of this, in some cases for up to five decades
The list below has been compiled from the EU’s ‘Essential Principles on Financial Settlement’. Ignored by the mainstream media the EU’s demands were published on 24 May 2017 — over two years ago. Instead of being hit into the long grass by the UK negotiating team, the list has never been refuted.
The EU’s demands cover everything they could possibly think of, and they involve the UK making payments to the EU for decades to come. This list does NOT appear in the final version of the Withdrawal Agreement, being replaced by convoluted descriptions and long lists of links to other documents.
Some of the items mentioned, which the UK is expected to pay for, will not be entered into the EU’s accounts for as many as 10 years after the UK’s departure. In the case of pensions, this extends to 5 DECADES.
- To show everyone what the UK taxpayer has been paying for in the last 46 years, and
- To demonstrate the magnitude of the EU’s demands for a divorce bill to be paid
You don’t have to read all of this — just look at the length.
ANNEX 1 — LISTS OF BODIES OR FUNDS
INCLUDED IN THE FINANCIAL SETTLEMENT
A. ENTITIES IN THE CONSOLIDATED ACCOUNTS
1. Institutions and consultative bodies
European Parliament
European Council European
European Commission
European Court of Auditors
Court of Justice of the European Union
Council of the European Union
Economic and Social Committee
Committee of the Regions
European Ombudsman
European Data Protection Supervisor
European External Action Service
2. EU Agencies
2.1. Executive Agencies
Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency
Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency
Innovation & Networks Executive Agency
Research Executive Agency
European Research Council Executive Agency
2.2. Decentralised Agencies
European Maritime Safety Agency
European Food Safety Authority
European Medicines Agency
European Railway Agency
European GNSS Supervisory Authority
Community Plant Variety Office
European Chemicals Agency
European Fisheries Control Agency
Fusion for Energy (European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy)
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
Eurojust
European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL)
European Institute for Gender Equality
European Police Office (EUROPOL)
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
European Aviation Safety Agency
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
European Network and Information Security Agency
European Environment Agency
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
European Centre for the Development of Vocational training
European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority
European Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators
Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union
European Banking Authority
European Securities and Markets Authority
European Asylum Support Office
European Training Foundation
Office for the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communication
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex)
European Union Intellectual Property Office
EU-LISA (European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice)
The Single Resolution Board (SRB)
3. Other entities
European Coal and Steel Community (in liquidation)
European Institute of Innovation and Technology
B. JOINT VENTURES
SESAR Joint Undertaking
Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking
Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking
ECSEL Joint Undertaking
Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking
Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking
Shift2Rail
Galileo Joint Undertaking in liquidation
C. ASSOCIATES FUNDS IN THE ACCOUNTS
European Investment Fund
D. FUNDS NOT IN THE CONSOLIDATED ACCOUNTS
European Development Fund
Facility for Refugees in Turkey
E. TRUST FUNDS
European Union Trust Fund for the Central African Republic “Bêkou EU Trust Fund”
European Union Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian crisis, “the Madad Fund”
Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing the root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa
Trust Fund for Columbia (sic)
F. BODIES NOT IN THE CONSOLIDATED ACCOUNTS
European Central Bank
European Investment Bank
European Defence Agency
European Union Institute for Security Studies
European Union Satellite Centre
European Schools
ANNEX 2 — LIST OF BASIC ACTS — PROGRAMMES
EFSI
European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI)
EGNOS & Galileo
European satellite navigation systems (EGNOS and Galileo)
ITER
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)
Copernicus
European Earth Observation Programme (Copernicus)
ND-BG-SK
Nuclear decommissioning assistance programmes in Bulgaria and Slovakia
ND-LT
Nuclear decommissioning assistance programmes in Lithuania
H2020
Horizon 2020
Euratom
Euratom Research and Training Programme
COSME
Competitiveness of enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (COSME)
Erasmus+
Education, Training, and Sport (Erasmus+)
EaSI
Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI)
Customs 2020
Action programme for customs in the European Union (Customs 2020)
Fiscalis 2020
Action programme for taxation in the European Union (Fiscalis 2020)
Hercule III
Programme to promote activities in the field of the protection of the European Union’s financial interests (Hercule III)
Pericles 2020
Exchange, assistance and training programme for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting (Pericles 2020)
AFIS
Anti Fraud Information System (AFIS)
CEF-Energy
Connecting Europe Facility-Energy
CEF-Transport
Connecting Europe Facility-Transport
CEF-ICT
Connecting Europe Facility-Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
ESP
European statistical programme (ESP)
FINSER
Specific activities in the field of financial reporting and auditing
ISA
Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations, businesses & citizens
ICFS
Enhancing consumers involvement in EU policy-making in the field of financial services
WIFI4ALL
Wifi For All
ERDF
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
ESF
European Social Fund (ESF)
CF
Cohesion Fund (CF)
CEF-CF
Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) — CF contribution
YEI
Youth Employment initiative (specific top-up allocation)(YEI)
FEAD
European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD)
EAGF
European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) — Market-related expenditure and direct payments
EAFRD
European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
EMFF
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF)
SFPAs
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements (SFPAs)
LIFE
Environment and climate action (LIFE)
AMIF
Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund
ISF
Internal Security Fund
SIS
Schengen Information System (SIS)
VIS
Visa Information System (VIS)
EURODAC
Comparison of fingerprints for effective application of the Dublin Convention
JUSTICE
Justice
RIGHT
Rights, Equality, and Citizenship
UCPM3
Union Civil protection Mechanism
E4CITIZEN
Europe for Citizens
FOOD
Food and feed
HEALTH
Health
CONSUMER
Consumer
CREA
Creative Europe
IES
Instrument for Emergency Support within the Union (IES)
IPA II
The instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II)
ENI
European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI)
DCI
Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI)
PI
Partnership Instrument for cooperation with third countries (PI)
EIDHR
European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR)
IcSP
Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP)
HUMA
Humanitarian aid (HUMA)
CFSP
Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)
INSC
The instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation (INSC)
MFA
Macro-financial Assistance (MFA)
GF
Guarantee Fund for external actions (GF)
UCPM4
Union Civil Protection Mechanism
EUAV
EU Aid Volunteers initiative (EUAV)
EFSD
European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD)
TCC
The instrument of financial support for encouraging the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community (TCC)
GRLD
EU Cooperation with Greenland
Never mind the quality, feel the length
Even if you don’t have time to read the list above — or fear you may lose the will to live if you do — just look at the length. You may wish to take stock of the extent to which the EU has spread its interests far beyond any concepts of mutually-beneficial trade, or even of cooperation on areas of common interest between member states.
To many readers, some of the items will be somewhat surprising. For example, why does the EU have a “Trust Fund for Columbia”? And yes, I know that the correct spelling is ‘Colombia’, otherwise they’re talking about a film studio, but it seems that the EU doesn’t.
And why is the UK expected to pay for “the protection of the euro against counterfeiting”? Do they help to pay for the pound’s protection against counterfeiting? No.
Can any of the Tory leadership candidates seriously think they can renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement when it is based on such manifest nonsense? Apparently so….
Money talks
I happen to think that this whole subject is quite important to the people of the United Kingdom. Theresa May has agreed in principle to pay the EU £39 billion. That’s a lot of doctors, nurses, medicines, police, elderly care, repaired roads, school teachers, etc. In reality, of course, the eventual bill will be far higher. With the EU it always is.
To most people who voted Leave, it is inconceivable that the UK should pay more than a few billion pounds to the EU for current liabilities up to the point of leaving. For some, the EU should, in fact, be reimbursing the UK.
I would merely point out that the question of the ‘financial settlement’ was one of the top priorities for the EU. Without that, one of the pillars of the Withdrawal Agreement will be removed, and the EU will never accept that.
Much better to leave with a clean, WTO managed Brexit by 31 October 2019 and stop wasting time. We have a bold, bright future ahead of us as an independent, free-trading, globally-facing nation. It will be bumpy at first but we will soon be on the way up. Let’s get on with it. #GoWTO.
[ Sources: EU Commission ]
