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It was about 1,800 trillion euros when the heads of state and government wrestled with each other for almost five days and four nights last July to approve the reconstruction fund in the corona crisis and the EU long-term budget until 2027.
It is understandable that a relatively small pot of money, measured by its size, received hardly any attention at the time: at the marathon summit last summer, the 27 EU countries also agreed a five-billion-euro fund for EU countries that are particularly affected by Brexit.
In fact, a working paper of the European Commission, which WELT has at its disposal, shows that a large chunk of money from the so-called “reserve for adjustment to Brexit” is to flow to Germany.
Last summer, EU Council President Charles Michel, who coordinated the negotiations, brought the pot into play.
The aim of the five billion fund was to persuade Belgium, Ireland and other smaller net contributors to agree to the EU's 750 billion reconstruction fund.
But now it seems that large EU states like France and Germany could surprisingly profiteer from the Brexit pot - and countries like Belgium or Ireland could be disappointed.
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The total of five billion euros is to be paid out in two tranches, of which four billion are to flow by the end of this year and a further billion in 2024, if the long-term consequences of Brexit are to be more recognizable.
It is planned that the capital cities will pass the money on to affected companies and regions.
According to the Commission paper, around 429 million euros of the first four billion will go to Germany;
this would make the German tax authorities one of the main beneficiaries of the Brexit reserve.
France wants to change the distribution key
More money is only flowing into Ireland, which has been particularly hard hit, where 991 million euros are going and the Netherlands, which can count on 714 million.
397 million are to go to France, 305 million to Belgium and 233 million to Denmark.
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The influence of Brexit on the German economy is far less than in countries like Ireland, but the size of the German economy and the correspondingly large trade with Great Britain alone ensure that a large part of the money flows to Germany.
This distribution alone could cause frowns in the severely affected countries.
But now even more money threatens to flow into the large EU countries - and far less into the countries that have been particularly hard hit by Brexit.
France wants to change the distribution key for the money so that significantly more money would arrive in France.
The Commission's legislative proposal is currently being discussed in parallel in the European Parliament and between the Member States.
In the deliberations between the capitals, Paris is vigorously advocating the corresponding change;
the fronts are evidently hardened there.
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Spain, which would also benefit, supports France.
The federal government, on the other hand, does not want to jeopardize the hard-won European compromise and rejects changes.
And that although Germany would actually benefit considerably from the changes.
This is shown by the parallel negotiations in the European Parliament, which also has a say in the law.
There, the French MP Valérie Hayer, who oversees the Brexit reserve in the budget committee, tabled an amendment that reflects the ideas in Paris.
And the proposal of the MPs from the Macron party La République en Marche has it all.
In the finely balanced Commission proposal, which was presumably formulated for a specific distribution, the decisive factor for the allocation of funds was how large the share of trade is in a country's total economic output - in addition to the importance of fishing in British waters.
This proposal therefore favors economies for which trade is fundamentally of great importance, such as Ireland, Belgium - or Germany.
Hayer's proposal, on the other hand, now wants to base the calculation on how pronounced trade with Great Britain has been so far - in relation to trade with all EU countries.
The hardest hit countries would get less money
So this key would favor countries that have done much of their trade with the UK - regardless of how important exports are to the overall economy.
The reallocation of funds would be substantial.
The Belgian MEP Pascal Arimont has calculated what this new calculation formula would bring.
He gave insights into his calculations to WELT.
According to this, the four largest EU economies in particular would benefit enormously: France would receive an additional 263 million euros and Germany 128 million more.
Spain could expect 290 million euros instead of around 174 million euros and Italy instead of 82.2 million euros with around 156 million euros.
The amounts for the countries that are relatively hardest hit would, however, decrease: Ireland would lose EUR 200 million, the Netherlands EUR 205 million and Belgium EUR 131 million.
"The proposal changes the distribution of the funds very sustainably and ensures that the countries that are particularly badly affected by Brexit get less money," the Belgian politician from the conservative EPP group in parliament told WELT.
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“That changes the fundamental philosophy of the reserve, which was actually intended as a solidarity mechanism.” In fact, the deliberations in the three competent parliamentary committees do not run between the party lines, but between the nationalities of the MPs - analogous to the positions of the capitals.
In parliament, too, the Germans are trying to preserve the European compromise.
"The proposal is un-European and even nonsensical, after all, it is about cushioning the consequences of Brexit," says CDU MP Niklas Herbst, who sits on the responsible budget and fisheries committees for the EPP parliamentary group.
"Despite all the weaknesses of the Commission proposal, we should not change the distribution, but ensure that the money flows quickly."
Meanwhile, the Greens MP Rasmus Andresen, who sits on the budget committee, warns that distribution discussions are also looming within the recipient countries.
"The funds should flow directly into the regions most affected and not seep away in the national budgets," said the MP to WELT.
The Committee of the Regions (CoR), which will adopt its opinion on the reserve on Friday, is also calling for the regions to have a greater say in distribution.
The President of the French region of Brittany, Loïg Chesnais-Girard, who is responsible for the issue in the CoR, is also calling for an additional billion for the regions concerned.
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