The Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament, consisting of the EP President Martin Schulz and the presidents of political groups, appointed former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti as head of the “high-level group on own resources”. This expert group includes representatives of the EP, the Commission and the European Council and its task is to present  ideas on how the EU could be financed in the future. Nowadays, the majority of EU´s budget comes from the Member States contributions. Own resources, customs and VAT fraction, are relatively modest in sum. The panel should find some independent stream of funding. This topic has been discussed for some time now. Certain ideas have already been presented, e.g. an EU-wide financial transaction tax. Certain Member States, however, are very careful not to form a new “EU Tax” to finance the Union´s budget.

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