The German financial contribution to the EU budget rose to a record level last year.

According to calculations by the German Press Agency, the Federal Republic of Germany contributed around 25.1 billion euros net to the European Union’s joint expenditures in 2021.

With 12.4 billion euros, France gave only about half as much money, Italy with around 3.2 billion euros less than a seventh.

According to the calculations, the largest net recipient in absolute terms was Poland, which received around 11.8 billion euros more from the EU budget than it paid in.

This was followed by Greece with 4.5 billion euros, Hungary with around 4.1 billion euros and Romania with just under 4 billion euros.

In 2020, the German net contribution was significantly lower at around 19.4 billion euros.

However, during the negotiations on the EU financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027, the Federal Republic and the other net contributors then agreed to increase their contributions again in order to largely compensate for the loss caused by the net contributor Great Britain leaving the EU.