The Real Cost of the EUSSR. Hat Tip, Russia Today.

The cost of EU membership is unreasonably
high and not worth it for the UK, argues Dr
Lee Rotherham, a veteran from behind the
scenes of UK-EU relations. Dr Lee Rotherham
is an EU Policy Analyst at Taxpayers' Alliance
and author of Ten Years On: Britain Without
the European Union. He told RT that the
UK's overall bill for EU membership,
including direct and indirect costs for business
and the whole country, could be up to £110
billion a year. However, he added that
nobody knows that for sure because there
has not been a gross benefit analysis of EU
membership. Therefore there is a big
question over whether UK taxpayers' money
is being spent effectively, particularly in
regard to the unprecedented economic
problems the financial crisis brought to
Southern and Eastern Europe. Rotherham
said: "The cost of the [EU] regulations, in
terms of the UK, is greater than the actual
value of the trade that it is meant to regulate.
That's because the regulations cover ten per
cent of the British economy, which is our
exports to the EU, but actually cover 100 per
cent of the UK economy. Eighty per cent is
internal, ten percent is to the rest of the
world." The whole economy has to pay the
price of the 10 per cent regulated by the EU.
In real terms, the UK could buy a new
hospital every three days with the money it
spends on EU regulations and membership
fees."The British taxpayer is funding taxes and
naturally expects the money to be spent for
the benefit of themselves, as fundamentally it
is their money," Rotherham said. There are
about 10 different levels of association with
the EU, which are very similar in style, but
some without the burdens, regulations and
bureaucracy attached to them. And there has
to be an appropriate mechanism for the UK
that is not necessarily full membership,
believes Rotherham. "If you were a member
of a golf club and your bill kept going up
and you had to invite people to your house
every Sunday, and you had to put obliges
and a number of things were added to your
conditions of being a member of this golf
club -- you would not be happy with that,"
he said. But "it's the same principle." The EU
is just a part of the world and the UK,
"rather than linking itself too closely with one
part of the world trading system [EU], which
is decreasing in importance, the UK or any
European country should be involved in
more pro-active free trade across the world
rather than becoming a part of a regional
association which highly risks becoming a
protectionist bloc." "There are different
models to offer, let's not pretend it is either
the EU or oblivion, there are lots of choices
around," assured Rotherham.

Cost of the EU To the UK and Others.

Annual Costs of EU MembershipThe net cost of the EU to Britain is £20 billion pa. But the actual cost is much more than that.
The European Union costs us £65 billion gross every year.
That's about £1,000 each every year for every man, woman a...nd child in the UK. And it increases every year.

Direct and Indirect Costs of the EU Estimates of the true cost of the EU are difficult to come by. MPs have called many times for a cost-benefit analysis, to prove or disprove the benefits of membership. Successive Governments, both Labour and Conservative, have refused, on the grounds that the "benefits" are self-evident. In truth they are afraid of what such a study would show. The Bruges Group have finally produced an authoritative study.
(http://www.brugesgroup.com/CostOfTheEU2008.pdf)
The total gross cost to the UK of EU membership in 2008 they estimate at around £65,000,000,000* - including:
•£28 billion for business to comply with EU regulations,
•£17 billion of additional food costs resulting from the Common Agricultural Policy
•£3.3 billion - the value of the catch lost when the Common Fisheries Policy let other countries fish in our territorial waters
•£14.6 billion gross paid into the EU budget and other EU funds.
It gets worse each year. Used better, this sum could transform the UK - increase pensions, recruit more doctors, nurses, teachers and police, build advanced transport systems and start paying off the national debt.
*Even allowing for the UK rebate, which the EU wants to stop. Sources: Bruges Group report: "How Much Does the EU Cost Britain?", UK Office of National Statistics, British Government Regulatory Impact Assessments, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organisation, OECD, Eurostat, European Commission.
British households pay £440 a year to be an EU member ... but don't get it backThe average British household paid £440 to be a member of the European Union last year but received only £312 back in direct benefits, according to newly published Brussels accounts.

Bruno Waterfield in Brussels, Telegraph, 28 Sep 2010: Spain is the only one of the top five contributors where the return is greater than the contribution Photo: Corbis The £128 loss for every household is because Britain’s share of the costs for running the EU are not matched by returned cash, which comes in the form of farm subsidies or social funds.
The lion’s share of spending goes to continental farmers and poorer countries such as Poland, the figures show.
Britain is the fifth highest contributor to the EU budget, with £6.7billion, beaten by France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Poland contributes £2.4billion. Each Briton pays £110 in contributions to the EU but loses out by £32 in benefits in return. Spain is the only one of the top five contributors where the return is greater than the contribution. In Poland, every person contributes £63 and gains £166 in return subsidies