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With a major net contributor set to leave the union next year and populist movements gnawing at the bloc’s bonds, Germany is seeking to take advantage of its additional financial leverage to get wayward EU states to fall back into line. The message is play ball or risk losing out on funds.
“Solidarity is one of the EU’s fundamental values,” the German Finance Ministry said in a document obtained by Bloomberg News. “This should express itself in the Member States’ showing solidarity in the different policy areas and should also be reflected in the EU’s finances,” according to the policy paper, dated Jan. 25.
Germany is the biggest contributor to the EU budget. Its relative power will increase as a result of Brexit, which is set to create a gap of about 10 billion euros a year as of 2021. The looming budget crisis has become a political issue.
EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger has said the hole should be filled “using 50 percent savings, 50 percent fresh money.” While Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told Standard newspaper this month that taxpayers’ money must be used “more sparingly,” French President Emmanuel Macron has also suggested that aid should be linked to recipients’ adherence to democratic standards. [...]