Inside the EU a group of “Rich Countries” are being asked to give more money to another group of countries that regard themselves as being “Poor”. One of the rich countries, the UK, has left the EU and the “Poor Countries” are demanding that they receive the same amount of money as before Brexit.
Finland, along with the other Nordics, Austria, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Ireland and France have said that they will not automatically increase their contributions. That is a good starting point.
In fact, there should be an agreement to cut contributions to zero because there is no such thing as a Rich Country or a Poor Country inside the EU. The whole thing is a fraudulent charade…
The noisiest “Poor Countries” are Poland, Hungary and Spain representing a bunch of smaller countries some of whom are not at all poor in any sense.
Can you believe for one moment that Luxembourg and Belgium are “Poor Countries”?
They are net recipients from us too, and receive almost €3 billion from the “Rich Countries”! Not only do they have that benefit, but they have arranged artificial tax breaks for many of our big national companies that enable these companies to avoid paying taxes in their home countries.
I do not recall any other European country contributing to Finland, Sweden, Denmark or Norway some 50 years ago, and later, when we all had much lower standards of living. The same goes for Netherlands, and Austria. Their populations worked hard and earned better living standards – none of us asked for hand-outs.
It is an insult to our intelligence that Poland, Hungary and Spain are asking for money from the so-called Rich Countries. They have had plenty of time to improve their own lot during he last decades.
Poland and Hungary have been able to grow this last 20 years since the fall of Russia and during that time these countries have received huge grants from the EU, as well as many cheap loans for infrastructure. It’s about time that they stand on their own 2 feet and stop screaming like a spoilt small child outside a toy shop. Their demands of Poland and Hungary turned sour many years ago when started to undermine the Rule of Law.
Spain also has received huge grants and many cheap loans that have been squandered on failed housing projects and corruption. They have benefited enormously from excellent weather and rich pensioners playing gold on their greens… Portugal also benefited in the same ways and wasted time and money. They too encouraged the wealthy Northerners to emigrate with zero taxes on their pensions.
Much of the expansion of the EU has been based on the promises made by a few weak EU leaders who foolishly decided that we need to have more members in the EU without carefully considering the consequences of having weak and corrupt governments in the group.
The European Union is not a United States of Europe – it never will be. It is a grouping of independent European nations who share a common economic region where there is a free movement of labour, capital and services. Successful relations with neighbours require reasonable levels of compatibility, honesty, and transparency where Democracy and the Rule of Law are assiduously applied.
