24 - Money Flashcards
Plans for spending the EU budget, 2014-20
325bn - Support for Poorer Regions
278bn - Agriculture Funds for Farms
125.6bn - Research and Training to Boost Growth
95bn - Rural Development and Fisheries
62bn - Administration
59bn - EU as Global Player, Including Development Aid
15.7bn - Security, including border controls
How does the EU budget work?
Each country receives money back from the EU to support development and other projects.
How did the EEC start? compared with now?
The EEC started out as a trading bloc - with free movement of goods and services within the Common Market - now its interests include reducing regional inequalities, preserving the environment, promoting human rights and investing in education and research.
EU and Britain…
The EU is Britain’s biggest trading partner. British citizens are free to work in any EU country and EU funding is spent on supporting farmers, boosting jobs in the UK, redeveloping rundown areas, and grants for university research.
How did the EU contribute…
The EU has contributed to cheaper travel by challenging monopolies and boosting competition. It has reduced the cost of mobile data roaming and set water quality standards in Europe.
But giving subsidies to farmers led to over-supply of some crops and so the EU was forced to rethink its agriculture policy.
Critics…
Critics say the EU has taken too much power from the UK government, its regulations are costly to the British economy and without them, Britain would be able to sign other trade deals with growing economies like China and India. They also say that the EU wastes taxpayers’ money on excessive bureaucracy - citing MEPs monthly trips to Strasbourg which cost 180m euros (£136m) per year.
