In 2023, Germany paid 17.4 billion euros more into the European Union budget than it received. However, experts warn of Germany’s weak economy and pointed out that this is a lower figure than in 2022 – a trend they expect to continue.
Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland and Slovakia have been warned about their excessive budget deficits and instructed by the European Commission to reduce their public spending in line with EU rules.
According to Eurostat, Austria recorded the highest number of first-time asylum applications per capita in September 2023. The country ranks third in the EU for unaccompanied minors. The European Parliament and the member states have reached an agreement on the sweeping reform of the asylum and migration policy. The EU-27 agreed to relax budgetary rules.
The European Commission asked the member states for an additional 66 billion Euro for the coming years, partly to finance additional aid for Ukraine, due to a lack of money in the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). The increase in the long-term budget is to be discussed by the European heads of government at the EU summit at the end of this week. A protracted debate is looming.
European officials received a salary increase of 1.7 percent in June. Yet, viral social media posts claim that that was just the beginning and that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has demanded a 15-percent increase for herself and other EU staff. These claims are false.