Swedes have voted that the European Union’s coronavirus fund was the biggest waste of Swedish taxpayer cash in 2021, according to a poll conducted by the country’s Taxpayer’s Association.
The Taxpayer’s Association and its Waste Ombudsman’s annual “worst waste of taxpayers’ money” poll found that Swedes believe the EU Coroanvirus Fund, also known as “Recovery Plan for Europe”, was the biggest waste of money by the Swedish government in 2021, receiving 35 per cent of the votes.
European Union countries agreed to contribute €806.9 billion (£672.2 billion/$899.2 billion) as part of the fund, which is to be distributed to countries as a stimulus package to help in the economic recovery following the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
Sweden, according to the Taxpayer’s Association, has contributed around 150 billion Swedish kronor (£11.8 billion/$15.8 billion) but is expected to receive significantly less cash than the country put in.
Some countries, such as Poland and Hungary, face not getting any cash from the fund as the European Union threatened to withhold pandemic aid to the two countries last month over rule of law disputes.
Swedes Vote Climate Policy Biggest Waste of Tax Payer Money in 2019 https://t.co/ZNQ4QhTzAd
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 11, 2020
“The EU’s corona fund represents a large and far-reaching commitment, with very little positive effect on Sweden,” Waste Ombudsman Josefin Utas said.
“We need more debate and scrutiny of what is happening in Europe. The waste of our tax money cannot be ignored just because it happens at the EU level,” Utas added.
The poll comes a year after the Taxpayer’s Association poll found that in 2020 Swede’s found climate change spending the biggest waste of public cash.
“The government has more than doubled the appropriations for climate policy, but despite this, emissions no longer decrease. In 2018, emissions even increased. That is why climate policy has been voted the worst waste of the year,” former Waste Ombudsman Johan Gustafsson said last year.
“Too much tax money is wasted without benefit to those who pay. It is no less important that money has an effect when it is invested in something that is important — rather the opposite,” Gustaffson added.
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