AUSTRIA is on a collision course with incoming president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen after reiterating its vehement opposition to the EU’s insistence that each of the EU27 should pay a minimum annual contribution of 1.1 percent of GDP.
And Austrian finance minister Eduard Muller said the EU would need to tighten its belt after Britain, which makes an annual contribution of more than £13billon, leaves the bloc, rather than simply expecting everyone else to pay more. The Commission affirmed the figure at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, relating to the amount each member state is expected to pay into the EU’s multi-annual budget, which runs from 2021 to 2027.
Speaking prior to the meeting, Mr Muller warned: “A smaller EU has to manage with a smaller budget.
Austria, together with the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, sometimes dubbed the “Frugal Four”, are all net contributors to the EU budget, and all four have voiced concerns about being expected to pay more into the pot.
Speaking in the European Parliament last week, designated EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said the 1.1 percent figure was the minimum given the priorities being planned for by Mrs von der Leyen in such areas as climate change and migration.
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