Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is just another matter in relation to that issue. At the concluding plenary session yesterday afternoon, at which Mr. Schulz was present, Mr. Barroso made a very interesting comment. In regard to the last slide which shows net beneficiaries and net contributors Mr. Barroso's comment was that 84% of the EU budget is paid by member states but 94% of the EU budget operates in a different fashion and that all European Union countries are beneficiaries of European Union funding. Will the witnesses explain what that means because there is much focus on the fact that a member state is a net benefactor or a net contributor but the way EU funding is allocated to member states is that every country gets more money out of it than what they put in?