Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide, in tabular form, the contribution to the EU Budget from 2006 to 2012; if he will outline the sources of those revenue under specific legislation and the reason for annual increases; the expected cost in 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1923/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Ireland’s contribution to the EU Budget for the years 2006 – 2013 is detailed in the table below.

Payments to the European Union (€m)

Article 311 of the Treaty of Lisbon sets out the legal arrangements for funding the EU Budget. The basic legislation is laid down periodically in a Council Decision, currently 2007/436/EC, which is adopted unanimously and ratified by every member state.

The budget of the EU is mainly financed by own resources contributions from each member state. These comprise ‘traditional own resources’ – principally customs duties collected on behalf of the EU, with 75% of the amount collected paid over to the EU and the balance retained by the member state to fund the costs of collection and administration; a VAT-related payment under which an agreed percentage is levied on a harmonised VAT base for each member state and finally a payment based on a percentage of each member state’s Gross National Income (GNI). Corrections or rebates to a number of member states are also factored into the calculation of contributions.

The annual level of Ireland’s contribution to the EU Budget, made up of the three elements mentioned above, is determined by the outcome of the annual EU Budget negotiation between Council and the European Parliament. The most important component is the GNI resource which, in 2012, represented over 70% of our total contribution.

For 2013 it is currently estimated that our total own resource contribution will be in the order of €1,450 million although this will depend on a number of factors including actual budget implementation.

1 Gross national income (GNI) is equal to GNP adjusted for EU subsidies and taxes.