The 'real' cost of EU membership to member states is 'many times higher' than figures quoted by the European commission, it has been claimed. According to the British Taxpayers' Alliance, EU membership costs every citizen €2400 per year, compared with the €235 quoted by the commission. The UK-based lobby group says that, annually, the total cost of membership to the 27 states is €1219bn – close to ten times the official figures.
The Taxpayers' Alliance bases its figures on what it considers the "real, underestimated and hidden" cost of EU membership. This includes a country's direct contributions to the EU, the cost to 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." He goes on, "The book does highlight the extent that official studies underestimate the cost of the EU."
UK conservative MEP Roger Helmer said, "These figures show how wasteful the EU is." A commission spokesman said the data it uses to calculate the cost of EU membership are "totally" different to those used by the Taxpayers' Alliance and do not include, for example, the cost of complying with EU regulations. "This data is taken from our official financial reports and whatever anyone else says, we stick by these figures," she said.
