We published a report on the Netherlands’ net payment position in 2020. It calculated the Netherlands’ contributions to the EU relative to its receipts from the EU and compared it with other EU member states’ payment position.
The report also looked in detail at a difference of opinion between the Netherlands and the European Commission on how the payment position is calculated. Unlike the Netherlands, the Commission does not count traditional own resources (import duties) as a member state contribution. Furthermore, the Commission’s calculations do not include administrative expenditure from the EU budget. The different calculation methods produce different net payment positions.
The Netherlands has not referred to this difference of opinion in recent years. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ budget for 2024 for the first time does not classify import duties as a contribution to the EU (under article 3.1) but presents them separately as import duties under article 3.4. The Central Government Annual Financial Report for 2022 (section 3.4.1) notes that the Dutch budget is in a sense a conduit for the import duties and that Customs collects import duties for the EU budget.
Since we released our report in 2020 we have updated the Netherlands’ net payment position every year. Using the Commission’s definition (operating budgetary balance; OBB), the Netherlands was the largest net contributor to the EU budget in 2014 and the one of the largest after Germany in the years that followed.
Net payment position of 10 net contributors as a percentage of GNI under the OBB definition (2014-2024)
Under the operating budgetary balance definition, Germany has been the biggest net contributor in recent years
| Jaar | BE | DK | DE | FR | IT | NL | AT | FI | SE | UK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | -0,35 | -0,25 | -0,45 | -0,31 | -0,26 | -0,52 | -0,37 | -0,39 | -0,41 | -0,22 |
| 2015 | -0,32 | -0,22 | -0,39 | -0,24 | -0,16 | -0,36 | -0,25 | -0,23 | -0,38 | -0,43 |
| 2016 | -0,29 | -0,29 | -0,42 | -0,38 | -0,16 | -0,31 | -0,24 | -0,15 | -0,35 | -0,25 |
| 2017 | -0,1 | -0,18 | -0,27 | -0,13 | -0,14 | -0,15 | -0,19 | -0,06 | -0,24 | -0,19 |
| 2018 | -0,11 | -0,39 | -0,39 | -0,25 | -0,29 | -0,32 | -0,35 | -0,25 | -0,32 | -0,29 |
| 2019 | -0,1 | -0,31 | -0,39 | -0,26 | -0,21 | -0,35 | -0,29 | -0,22 | -0,28 | -0,26 |
| 2020 | -0,16 | -0,42 | -0,46 | -0,35 | -0,3 | -0,41 | -0,39 | -0,34 | -0,4 | -0,44 |
| 2021 | -0,2 | -0,43 | -0,59 | -0,44 | -0,09 | -0,48 | -0,33 | -0,38 | -0,46 | NA |
| 2022 | 0,08 | -0,16 | -0,42 | -0,29 | -0,12 | -0,3 | -0,24 | -0,22 | -0,3 | NA |
| 2023 | 0,14 | -0,27 | -0,38 | -0,28 | -0,18 | -0,3 | -0,21 | -0,27 | -0,22 | NA |
| 2024 | 0,1 | -0,16 | -0,34 | -0,21 | -0,13 | -0,16 | -0,22 | -0,16 | -0,21 | NA |
Based on the OBB definition, the Netherlands contributed 0.16% of its GNI in 2024 (see orange line). This percentage is based on the member state’s net contribution (payments to the EU, also known as the national contribution, excluding customs duties, less amounts received from the EU). The percentage is calculated by dividing a member state’s net payment by its GNI for the year.
The net payment position tells only a small part of the EU costs and benefits story. Being a net contributor to the EU does not mean that the cost of membership outweighs the benefits. Dutch businesses, for instance, profit from the single market and the removal of trade barriers in the EU. The Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis has calculated that the additional trade increases the Netherlands’ gross national product – what we all earn as a nation – by about 3.1% every year.
More information
- EU contributions – information on the Netherlands’ contributions to the EU in the Central Government Annual Financial Report (in Dutch)
- EU Trend Report 2012 – report of the Netherlands Court of Audit, with a calculation of the net payment positions in 2010 (09-02-2012)
- Focus on the Netherlands’ net payment position – report of the Netherlands Court of Audit, with a calculation of net payment positions in 2014-2019 (14-10-2020)
- Trade benefits of the EU and the internal market – CPB (26-01-2022)