http://www.telegrap h.co.uk/news/ newstopics/ politics/ 4957520/EU- membership- costs-each- Briton-2000- a-year-Taxpayers -Alliance- claims.html
EU membership costs each Briton £2,000 a year, Taxpayers' Alliance
claims
Britain's membership of the European Union costs almost £2,000 a year
for every person in the country, a report has claimed.

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent
Last Updated: 3:03PM GMT 08 Mar 2009

The Taxpayers' Alliance figures for the cost of belonging to the EU
are much higher than the narrow budget contributions reported by the
Treasury.

The UK pays more than £6 billion a year in direct support for the
European Commission and other EU projects.

The TPA says the real cost of EU membership is actually many times
that.

The group, which argues for lower Government spending, says that the
true price of being an EU member comes in the cost to British
businesses in complying with European regulations, the cost of
Government bureaucracy to administer those rules, and other
consequences of membership like food prices inflated by farm
subsidies.

The European Commission has estimated that the cost of the European
project is around £188 for every person in the EU.

However, according to a Matthew Elliott, the TPA chief executive, the
total cost across the EU is £495 billion or £1,968 for ever man woman
and child in Europe,

Mr Elliot makes his claims in a new book, The Great European Rip-Off.

Mr Elliot said: "The EU's waste, mismanagement and incompetence costs
all of us a fortune. It's wrong that these unaccountable bureaucrats
are allowed to run up such a huge bill for ordinary people,
particularly with everyone struggling in a recession."

Figures disclosed in last year's Budget show that in 2007-08, Britain
made a net payment of £4.1 billion to the EU and its institutions.

In 2008-09, the net payment was projected at £6.1 billion. In 2009-10,
it will be £6.4 billion.

Since then, the pound has slumped against the euro and since the
membership fee is paid in euros, the real cost to the UK has
increased.

The Treasury disputed the TPA figures, saying Mr Elliott had not
properly considered the advantages of membership.

A spokesman said: "The report grossly inflates the cost of EU
membership and completely ignores the fact that we derive significant
economic benefit from our membership of the EU."

http://macedoniaonl ine.eu/content/ view/6068/ 53/
British find they pay a fortune to be in EU Club

According to the UK Taxpayers' Alliance, EU membership costs every
Briton 2,300 Euros per year, compared with the 250 Euros quoted by the
EU.

The UK-based lobby group says that, annually, the total cost of
British membership of the 27-member club is 125 billion euros.

This contrasts sharply with Commission statistics which show that in
2007, the most recent year for which figures are available, Britain's
net contribution to the EU totalled some 4.1 billion euros.

The Taxpayers' Alliance bases its figures on what it considers the
"real, underestimated and hidden" costs of EU membership.

These include Britain's direct contributions to the EU, the cost to UK
business of complying with and administering EU regulations, EU
administration costs and also higher food prices, said to result from
implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy and Common Fisheries
Policy.

The claims are made in a new Taxpayers' Alliance booklet, entitled
"The Great European Rip-Off."

Its co-author, Matthew Elliott, the organisation' s CEO, said: "The
book tries to find a total cost of the EU but does not suggest that it
is all waste or that it could be eliminated overnight.

"However, an estimate of the total cost provides an important guide to
the burden placed on member countries' economies and their citizens
due to EU membership."

The Commission said it uses "totally" different data based solely on
Britain's direct contributions to the EU. A spokesman said that in
2007 Britain's net contribution to the EU was 4.1 billion euros, or
0.21 per cent of the country's GNI.

"Whatever anyone else says, we stick by these figures," she said.
//03.20.09 MiNa