Benefits of EU membership are ignored during EU budget negotiations

This briefing presents an account of the monetary and non-monetary benefits that Member States enjoy thanks to their EU membership. EU policies have large national political and economic returns, even though they may not be reflected in EU budget allocations. In particular, these benefits are not usually considered in the calculation of national operating budgetary balances (OBBs) and are thus omitted from EU budget discussions. The crucial aspect of these benefits is that they arise from EU membership and could not be developed elsewhere (i.e. national level). Their unique characteristics – which include a cross-border nature, the need for a critical mass, and network externalities – mean that the related benefits can only be reaped from action at the EU level.

This briefing is one of four that aim to expose the limitations of the operating budgetary balances (OBB) indicator, which results in inadequate political negotiations on the EU budget. These accompanying briefings clarify inter alia that OBBs are a misleading yardstick even for a Member State's fiscal advantages. In this briefing, we focus on the non-budgetary advantages of EU membership that are completely ignored in a narrow OBB exercise.