Benefits of EU Membership
Joining the EU is said to provide member states with a list of advantages. These will include membership at the different European financial institutions. Generally, there are several European Financial Institutions. The European Central Bank (ECB) maintains the Euro's purchasing power and price stability. The European Investment Bank (EIB) raises funds for capital projects to the EU's objectives. The European Investment Fund (EIF) handles venture capital and serves as the guarantee agency of the EU. Reading this reference will help you understand some of the benefits of joining the EU. How would member states be affected if they decided to leave the union?
Conclusion
This briefing has presented a non-exhaustive list of how EU membership creates advantages for Member States, especially in policy areas where acting alone would lead to suboptimal results. Budgetary net balances like OBBs completely overlook all of these
benefits. From the extremely narrow perspective of
Operating budgetary balances, the only advantage of EU membership is money flowing back into a
Member State. Such an indicator cannot result in anything but a distorted caricature of the true cost-benefit analysis of EU membership. As negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework give extensive weight to such a poor compass
(read Operating budgetary balances), the resulting decisions will be against the interests of European citizens and neglect policy areas that typically receive very little common spending but have a substantial potential to create European added value.