The EU – why Britain is totally FoCked

I don’t whether my readers (or many people in Britain) are aware that within the EU’s 28 countries there’s a group of countries that have got together and call themselves the ‘Friends of Cohesion’ (FoCs).

So, who are these FoCs? And does it matter?

The FoCs are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.

Why have these countries banded together to get what they want from the EU?

Well, here’s a clue (click to see more clearly)

The countries in the top part of this table from a German publication are those which are net contributors (Zahler) to the EU�and those in the lower part of the table are countries which are net recipients (Empfanger) of EU funds.

Oh, look! All the countries (apart from Ireland) which are net recipients of EU funds are FoCs (I’ve indicated these with a red ‘FoC’), while none of the countries which are net contributors are FoCs.

So, we have a group of countries which can always block any EU legislation. And what do the FoCs want? More money, more money, more money.

Prior to the latest negotiations on the EU budget, the FoCs got together and produced a statement declaring:

• The�European Union is facing an unprecedented crisis and needs to mobilize all�available instruments to stabilize the economy, while restoring the conditions for sustainable growth and jobs. The European budget, and�Cohesion policy in particular, should play a strong role in this regard.
• Further��decrease of Cohesion policy funding – on top of the current Commission�proposal – would not match the ambitions repeated in successive European�Council conclusions nor the Treaty and the Europe 2020 Strategy��objectives.
• The overall level of resources allocated to Cohesion policy should be in line�with the Commission proposal in order to achieve our common European�goals. There is no room for further reduction following the Commission�proposal.
• Cohesion�funding should remain concentrated on less developed regions and Member�States, while recognising the need to help regions exiting convergence and�phasing out regions to reach a higher level of development.
• The current level of co-financing rates should be maintained or even increased�

Given that there are more countries which get more from the EU than they put in and given that they have banded together to block any reductions in the EU budget and even want the EU budget increased, I’d conclude that Britain’s attempts to control EU spending are doomed and Britain is totally FoCked unless we can get out of the EU.

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