EU Remains 'Hungary' for British Money

If there is one thing the European Union is good at, it is frivolously spending other people’s money. Over the last forty years the Eurocrats have made a profession of it. The EU’s latest splurge of taxpayer money may be the most reckless distribution of British funds to date.

In the last month, Britain has contributed over 10 billion pounds towards a €103 billion pot, to help fight unemployment in four member states. On Friday Hungary joined Portugal, France and the Czech Republic as a beneficiary of these “Partnership Agreements”.  

Whilst the Commission’s pretext for donating this €103 billion is to combat the high levels of unemployment in each country, this excuse simply does not add up. Both Hungary and the Czech Republic have unemployment levels below the EU average of 10.2 percent. Indeed, the Czechs have even lower unemployment than we do! More bizarrely, despite both countries receiving part of their funds from the Maritime and Fisheries Fund, neither have a coastline.  

Meanwhile, France’s unemployment rate is just over the average at 10.3 percent and Portugal’s is only slightly more at 14.3 percent. Regardless, the high unemployment rates they are now suffering are a direct consequence of their participation in that failed Utopian political experiment, the Euro.

The EU itself has caused the wave of unemployment across Europe. The idea of us granting yet more money to the EU and expecting levels of unemployment to fall is as foolish as it is corrupt.

With the £10 billion we have been forced to give up to our European neighbours, we could have made a real impact in tackling unemployment in Britain, particularly amongst our youth. Instead, this money has been levied off the backs of the British workforce to prop up the failing countries of Europe.

Around 13 percent of everything the European Union spends comes from the British taxpayer. It is reprehensible that money levied off the backs of the British worker can be spent with such wild abandon. If we truly wish to reclaim the ability of directly elected representatives to decide how we spend our own money, there is only one solution – we must Get Britain Out of the EU.

Luke Stanley, Research Assistant at Get Britain Out.