Britain’s withdrawal from the EU could leave the remaining 27 countries with a €20bn a year hole in their budget, requiring additional EU taxes to fill the gap, the European commission has said.
Günther Oettinger, the European commissioner for the budget, said the loss to the bloc had to be acknowledged, and big decisions made about the scale of the its ambitions after March 2019.
“We won’t have the UK with us any more, but they were net payers despite the Thatcher rebate, so we will have a gap of €10bn-€11bn a year,” the German official said.
Writing in a separate blog, Oettinger said the need to finance new initiatives in areas such as defence and security meant “the total gap could therefore be up to twice as much”.
Günther Oettinger, the European commissioner for the budget, said the loss to the bloc had to be acknowledged, and big decisions made about the scale of the its ambitions after March 2019.
“We won’t have the UK with us any more, but they were net payers despite the Thatcher rebate, so we will have a gap of €10bn-€11bn a year,” the German official said.
Writing in a separate blog, Oettinger said the need to finance new initiatives in areas such as defence and security meant “the total gap could therefore be up to twice as much”.
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