[Margaret Pilkington]

couple of interesting comments from a news site.
1)Despite EU denials, each year its debt increases. By deferring unpaid bills to the next budget it can keep saying it is running a balanced budget. EU overspending has increased from 131bn at the end of its last budget in 2006 to a projected 247bn euro by the end of this current budget in 2020.

Not only does the 2021-27 budget start 247bn in debt but the EU will be losing the UK's contribution. HMRC projections indicate if the UK remains we would give the EU between 112bn and 150bn (166bn euro) during the 2021-27 budget. But despite having a hole of about 400bn euro, the EU intend increasing 2021-27 spending by 179bn euro.

Now here's the problem. The 6 or 7 counties that pay for the EU, have refused to accept massive contribution increases. Germany alone faces up to a 100bn increase. But the 20 countries that do not pay a penny, just take money out, have told Brussels they will not tolerate a reduction in their subsidies.With these problems is the EU in a position to dictate to the UK?



2)EU data reports the UK was the most PROFITABLE market for the EU 27's trade in goods in 2016 and 2017. (135.6bn and 129.6bn euro respectively.)
The US replaced the UK as the EU number1 most PROFITABLE market with 139.6bn euro in 2018. In 2017, just 5 countries accounted for 70% of all EU goods exports to the UK. 17 countries accounted for an insignificant 7.5% of EU exports to UK.

The majority of EU states have virtually no exports with the UK. The UK is Germany's 1st or 2nd single most profitable market.

The economy of the EU's biggest contributor is already on the brink of recession. If trade with Latvia was interrupted so what. But for the top 5 EU exporters,the loss of UK market would be disastrous.

As the Belgian Economy Minister Kris Peeters said about no deal, (Oct2017) "The economic consequences will be catastrophiic...for Belgium."
Despite the iignorant denials of Remoaners, the EU would be plunged into crisis if it lost the 123 billion euro profit it made from the UK in 2018.

Worth a read.