Topic Reading-Vol.2620-6/14/2019
0422-27-5366
〒180-0006 東京都武蔵野市中町2-3-5 IIHA武蔵野1階
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Topic Reading-Vol.2620-6/14/2019
0422-27-5366
〒180-0006 東京都武蔵野市中町2-3-5 IIHA武蔵野1階
電話受付/月〜金 9:00-18:00
Topic Reading-Vol.2620-6/14/2019
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
EU Budget: who pays most and who gets most back?
With a population of a little over half billion in 28 member states, still including the UK, the European Union as a whole is the world’s second-largest economy only after the US. Some member states, such as Germany, UK, France, or Italy has a large population and Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, respectively ranked within top 10 in the world while small states like Malta, Cyprus, or Estonia produces little and ranked below 100.
The EU budget, roughly €166 billion for the year 2019, is mainly for investment to complement national budgets in the agreed policies in the fields, such as agriculture, regional development, space, trans-European networks, research, health, education, migration, border protection, and humanitarian aid. Each member state pays its allocated contribution and receives a budget for respective objectives. So, some countries pay more and receive less while others pay less and receive more. No wonder people become supportive of or skeptical about being a member state of the union. If your tax is spent on a bike-sharing program in another country to help curb greenhouse gas emissions, will you feel proud of it or betrayed by the government?
Remember, many countries in the European Union fought with each other nearly to the end during WWII, but they are now cooperating each other through talks and negotiations. Will such cooperative activity, if not by the form of union, be tried in other regions, such as Eastern and Southeastern Asia, or the Middle East?
Enjoy reading the articles and think about how cooperative the region where you live could be in the future.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48256318
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