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In 2007 the biggest net contributors to the EU budget were the taxpayers of Luxembourg contributing EUR 438 per head over what they received. The biggest net recipients were the taxpayers of Greece receiving EUR 470 per capita over what they paid.

In relation to GDP the biggest contributor to the EU budget was Netherlands paying 0.96 % of its GDP over what it received. The biggest net recipient of money redistributed by the EU was Lithuania receiving 2.52 % of its GDP over what it paid.

I cite these figures from my new website, www.money-go-round.eu where data for all member states since 1992 are available.

The purpose of the site is to provide information about payments by member states to and from the EU budgets, which is not easily available from standard EU financial reports. We also want to emphasize the fact that the money the EU spends is nothing but money taken from European taxpayers.

We believe that a vast majority of EU spending is in contradiction with the EU's proclaimed principle of subsidiarity. Neither agricultural nor regional subsidies are something that should be politically organized, let alone through a remote supranational body.

Moreover, subsidies distort markets and thus slow down economic growth. Last but not least, this supranational redistribution of taxpayers' money is politically unhealthy - it causes animosities, not friendship between nations.

Therefore these subsidies and national contributions should be abolished.

Petr Mach

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