Pay up Britons: EU Fines UK £150 Million for Not Flying the EU Flag
British taxpayers, already facing huge tax hikes to fund the Lib-Lab-Con’s disastrous economic and social policies, have been saddled with £150 million in fines for the failure to fly the EU flag in our country.
The shocking news emerged last week when the European Commission’s bureaucrats issued the fines in terms of little known regulations which say that the EU flag must be flown at all projects partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
In addition to the failure to fly the EU flag on these “EU-funded” projects, several British-based operations were also fined for failing to use the EU flag on their letterheads.
The projects named included the Eden Project in Cornwall, the Millennium Bridge in Gateshead, and the redevelopment of Liverpool’s King’s Dock.
The ridiculousness of the situation is accentuated by the fact that this “funding” is, in fact, UK tax money in the first place.
Britain is only paid back seven out of every ten pounds paid into the European superstate.
If that was not bad enough, all ERDF funding has to be matched pound for pound by Government cash. In essence then, the ERDF merely gobbles up British tax money, keeps a huge chunk for itself and gives a pittance back, which then has to be matched by the British taxpayer once again.
It would obviously be far cheaper to fund all of these projects directly from the Treasury, a simple fact which escapes the dunces in the Lib-Lab-Con party.
This year alone, Britain will contribute £6.4 billion more to Brussels than it receives back.
According to the ERDF website, Britain has received a total of £5 billion of ERDF funding since 2000, which puts this year’s payments into perspective.
According to the Bruges Group, the cost of Britain’s membership of the EU is as follows:
- Over-regulation costs Britain at least £26 billion per annum.
- The Common Agricultural Policy costs Britain at least £15.6 billion a year.
- Since 1973 the UK has made contributions to the EC budget of almost £213.6 billion gross or £66.3 billion net, by 2013 this figure will have increased to £299.8 billion gross, or £102.2 billion net.
- Britain's accumulated trade deficit with the other EU member states since we joined has risen to £359.5 billion.
- Membership of the European Union costs Britain £60.1 billion gross, or £50.6 billion net.
- That is the equivalent for every man, woman and child in Britain of over £1,000 per year gross or £843 net.
