Lower contributions

The budget of the European Union is based upon own resources payments, e.g. agricultural taxes, import duties, VAT payments and GNI-based payments.

GNI and VAT-based contributions paid by the Netherlands were lowered. The lower contributions are the result of a decision made by the European Council in December 2005 to improve the net payment position of the Netherlands. The decision by the European Council means an average annual discount for the Netherlands of 1 billion euro for the period 2007–2013. Approximately 0.6 billion euro is GNI-based and 0.4 billion euro is VAT-based, but prior to implementation, the decision must first be ratified by all other EU member states. Ratification was completed early 2009 and subsequently repayments could be made. The lower contributions paid by the Netherlands in 2009 over 2007 and 2008 ((2.1 billion euro in total), were balanced with the GNI-based payment over 2009. 

The GNI-based contribution over 2009 was lowered by 0.6 billion euro, but at the same time the GNI-based contribution was raised by 0.2 billion euro, because the relative share of the Netherlands in the GNI of the European Union increased in 2009.