Favorable economy, so pay extra to the EU: the Netherlands receives an additional tax of 700 million euros

The Dutch economy has been doing well in recent years. So good that the Netherlands is now being presented with the bill: it has to transfer an extra 700 million euros to the Dutch contribution to the European Union budget. Other countries get money back, because their economies performed less well or because of new, more accurate calculations of the size of their economies.

The additional tax is at a difficult moment. In the coming months Minister of Finance Eelco Heinen (VVD) will negotiate the Spring Memorandum with the Ministers and the Coalition. It offers an update of the budget of the current year, but also an important preview of the budgets of 2026 and later years. And the list of financial setbacks that is then discussed is now long, while the coalition has little solidarity.

What Member States contribute is – by distance – the most important source of income for the EU. This is much more important than, for example, the small contribution of each VAT virtue that the EU receives, the customs taxes or the income from fines that companies receive when they violate European rules. The contribution is determined and corrected afterwards based on the size of the economy of the Member States.

Correction

This time this time is higher. “This is partly because the Dutch economy has grown more than was estimated,” Heinen writes to the Lower House. If the gross national income (BNI) grows faster than in the rest of the EU, more should also be contributed. Adjustments in the calculation method also play a role in correction work. This year, the statistics agencies held their five -year evaluation of the sources on the basis of which the BNI is calculated. If necessary, the calculation method is updated.

The fixed Dutch contribution amounts to around 4 billion euros annually (about 1 percent of the national budget). Because of all the corrections mentioned, that amount can fluctuate considerably. In 2014, for example, the Netherlands received an additional tax of around 650 million euros and the cabinet received more than 550 million euros in 2022. This year, among others, France, Poland, Ireland and Sweden will receive money back. Germany, Spain and Italy also get an extra bill.

However, Heinen expects the Netherlands to pay more in the coming years: after all, economic growth is permanent. “Since the actual costs show that the BNI has increased relatively, this may also work on the estimated payments for a multi -year manner,” Heinen writes in the letter of Parliament.

The fixed Dutch EU contribution is around 4 billion euros annually, or 1 percent of the national budget

The fact that the Cabinet Schoof receives an extra bill from Brussels is sensitive within the coalition. In May closed outline agreement signed PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB the desire to pay less to the European Union. In 2028 the amount must be 1.6 billion euros lower than planned. The government wants to negotiate that discount when the EU member states are discussing the multi-year budget of the EU. If the total Brussels budget shrinks, the government argues, the Netherlands also needs to pay less to Brussels.

The Central Planning Bureau already hinted with the

Climate

The Brussels account will be on top of the pile with problems for which the cabinet must already find money for the spring memorandum. One is the climate task. Most likely, the climate goals are not achieved before 2030, the Planning Bureau for the Living Environment calculated. To get them – what the government wants, according to the outline agreement – climate minister Sophie Hermans (VVD) needs money.

Another bill: NSC wants a solution to the problems with disability benefits. This year it turned out that some of the disabled people received too low benefits. A solution costs money.

Third problem: in January the judge was destructive about the government’s nitrogen policy. The state must intervene to reduce nitrogen emissions, was the judgment. And intervention is also a price tag.

In March, the expectation is the negotiations about the Spring Memorandum. First Heinen speaks one by one with the ministers to hear how the flag on their departments is financially. In this way Heinen gets a picture of the setbacks on the budgets, but also of the windfalls there, and in tax revenues. After that, the coalition parties and the government will have to consult each other about how it wants to solve the problems.

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