Austria is carrying the heaviest relative burden among the European Union’s net contributors, even as Germany remains the bloc’s largest net payer, according to a new analysis by the German Economic Institute (IW Cologne). The study, shared with Reuters ahead of publication, shows that Germany paid €13.1 billion more into the EU budget last year than it received, a figure that underscores both its historical role and its recent economic troubles.
Germany’s weakening economy is leaving its mark. Net contributions have fallen sharply from €19.7 billion in 2022 to €17.4 billion in 2023. The latest number now aligns with the pre-Brexit average from 2014 to 2020, when the United Kingdom was still contributing to the common purse.
France ranks second among net contributors, transferring €4.8 billion more than it took in, followed by Italy at €1.6 billion. Greece, meanwhile, emerged as the EU’s largest net recipient, taking home €3.5 billion, ahead of Poland (€2.9 billion) and Romania (€2.7 billion). A year earlier, Poland led the pack with €8.1 billion.
The EU’s pandemic-era recovery fund, NextGenerationEU, has reshaped the burden-sharing landscape by injecting money into digital and green investments. When the fund is counted together with the traditional EU budget, Austria, Sweden, and Ireland bear the greatest load relative to their economic size, each contributing the equivalent of about 0.5 percent of GDP. Germany ranks sixth at 0.35 percent. Latvia is the biggest beneficiary, receiving an amount equal to 3.12 percent of its economic output, followed by Estonia and Croatia.
Per capita, Luxembourg receives the largest sum at €560, a figure IW attributes largely to the EU space program based there. The Baltic states follow close behind.
“The EU budget reflects Europe’s shifting balance of economic power,” said IW economist Samina Sultan. Faster-growing economies like Poland are receiving less support, she noted, while Germany and France have become “the EU’s problem children,” their economic stagnation mirrored in declining contributions.
In 2023, each German citizen paid a net €157 into the EU, the highest in the bloc, followed by Ireland at €130.
