That's a really crappy picture which shows a random number next to a country, but I assume it's from this article from the express (
@mods, are we allowed to post the express here?)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/polit...-Britain-UK-net-contribution-Brussels-Cameron
Are you not aware it's not just a rough sum you take out and it's a percentage of GDP/GNI? Do you want smaller countries which need to "get up to speed", so to say, to give some 10 billion euro, which they don't even have per year overall? It's how a union works - richer countries (UK, Germany, Netherlands, Italy) help out the smaller ones (all of Eastern Europe).
Do you know that, despite how shocking those sums might seem, you're not actually the biggest contributor to anything in the EU? The rebate Thatcher (!) put in place actually puts you down as the least-giving country as percentage per GDP/GNI. Also LOL at the fact on the picture you put on it literally says Germany is basically getting sh** on by the EU, yet, they're very pro-EU, as are the countries that keep joining, how odd eh? Maybe there is a profit there in free trade and movement, but seeing as you're unable to understand that - it must not exist.
From the article:
"Half the UK defence budget" - how aaaaaaawful, less weapons, *GASP*. 1/4 of the NHS bill and less than 1/2 of the Welfare budget - *gasp* again, but you know what? That's not how it works. It's a TOTAL PERCENTAGE, it's not a bunch of EU members sitting there going "you know what, let's just take money straight out the NHS, don't allow any movement of finance in there, no wiggle room, that'll learn the pesky UK".
The article proceeds to inform in a silly way basically the same as the Everton transfer thread - "OMG NET SPEND GUYS IT'S ALL ABOUT NET SPEND".
Do you know, seeing as we're using stated figures here which is wrong as it should be percentages but nevermind that - what the GNI of Britain is, in numbers, and how it compares to the rest of the EU? And how "OMG 25 BILLION GREAT BRITISH POUND STERLINGS" is basically a drop in the ocean?
To carry on:
Italy actually is on that list of "powerhouses" and is infront of Britain for contributions both as %GDP and as a total sum. In fact, up until 2014 Britain was 4th with roughly 10% of total contributions being from them, the rest - Germany (
~20% TOTAL OVERALL CONTRIBUTION), France (~18%), Italy (~16%). In fact, Spain is right behind the UK with about 9%, but let's not get into detail there.
Here is the full map without Cameron in front of it:
The rest of the article pretty much goes on to say how Britain should give even less for some reason, despite being wealthy enough to comfortably give more, and how unfair it is to Germany that they fund 1/5th of the whole operation of the EU.
