The European Union

Question 1

What is an MFF?

Answer 1

A multi-annual financial framework that the EU sets every 7 years that set out the overall direction of the EU’s spending.

Question 2

How much, on average, is the EU’s annual budget?

Answer 2

Somewhere in the region of €140billion

Question 3

How much of the EU’s annual budget is spent on operating expenses? (Staff wages, for instance)

Answer 3

6%

Question 4

Which body independently scrutinizes the EU’s budget?

Answer 4

The European Court of Auditors

Question 5

How much is the current MFF from 2014 to 2020?

Answer 5

€960 billion

Question 6

Where does the EU’s revenue come from?

Answer 6

1. Each of the 28 member states gives a fixed percentage of their national income.
2. Customs duties on imports from outside the EU.
3. Each of the 28 member states gives a percentage of their VAT.

Question 7

How much is the EU’s current deficit?

Answer 7

TRICK QUESTION! The EU is not allowed to operate a deficit, so it’s spending may not exceed it’s revenue.

Question 8

What limit does the EU’s annual budget have to adhere to?

Answer 8

It may not exceed 1.23% of all of the wealth produced each year by the 28 member states combined.

Question 9

How many EU citizens have lived or worked in another member state?

Answer 9

Only 10% according to a Eurobarometer study

Question 10

How much does the CAP cost the EU?

Answer 10

It will cost €435 billion over the current 2014-2020 MFF: representing 37% of the EU’s budget: it’s largest expenditure. Despite this huge cost it has actually decreased: in 1984 it represented 71% of the ENTIRE EU BUDGET.

Question 11

By how much has the single market increased inter-EU trade?

Answer 11

From £800 billion in 1992 to £2800 billion in 2012

Question 12

Why has the issue of Labour mobility within the UK been so controversial?

Answer 12

• Key ‘freedom’ of the 1987 Single European Act: enhanced by the Schengen area- especially controversial following enlargements in 2004 and 2007. A key argument for ‘Brexit’

1. BRAIN DRAIN of workers from poor countries to rich ones: the average salary in the UK is £2337, in Poland it is £756 per month!
2. Greater competition of jobs, suppression of wages, especially in unskilled jobs- lead to then rise of “British jobs for British workers”
3. Pressure on public services- Nigel Farrage’s campaign about ‘health tourism’- although, it is worth nothing that 26% of NHS doctors were NOT born in the UK: so would the NHS survive without EU migrants?
4. Alleged rise in crime- 130
   people died as a result of the November attacks in Paris: the perpetrators entered France through Greece pretending to be refugees. The free movement facilitates terrorism.
5. Impact of multiculturalism in working class communities: documentary “The last whites in the East End”- destroying cockney way of life.