Myths about the EU

Useless projects are funded by the EU

National and regional authorities in the EU countries select projects which they think meet their needs best in line with the strategies and priorities agreed with the Commission.

For 2014-20, the EU allocated over EUR 460 billion to regional spending. This should result in:

• help for over 800 000 companies
• better healthcare for 44 million Europeans
• flood and fire prevention for 27 million people
• nearly 17 million people connected to sewage plants
• broadband access for 14 million additional households
• over 420.000 new jobs
• training for 3.7 million Europeans
• New, modern schools and childcare for 6.7 million children

EU money is often mismanaged

For its part, if the Commission detects that EU money has been spent incorrectly, it takes action. In 2017, for example, on funds disbursed to recipients across the EU and beyond EUR 2.8 billion in funding was either recovered by the Commission or redirected to other projects.

We don’t need the EU

Population: almost 450 million inhabitants who account for 5.5% of the world’s population.

Population evolution: experts estimate that the EU population will grow steadily until the year 2026, after which it is projected to fall back to 420 million by 2100.

Multicultural societies: around 43 million EU residents are foreign citizens. Almost 14 million of them are citizens of EU Member States other than the one in which they reside. The rest are citizens of non-EU countries. On average, 3.1% of the people who live in an EU country are from another EU country, and 6.4% have the nationality of a non-EU country.

Geographical size: 4 million km². Germany has the EU’s largest population and France is the largest EU country in terms of area. Malta is the smallest EU country both in terms of inhabitants and surface area.

Open borders: the Schengen area allows people to move around without border checks since 1985. It underpins the EU’s free movement principle, thanks to which every EU citizen can travel, work and live in any EU country without special formalities. All EU Member States, except for Cyprus and Ireland, are members of the Schengen area. Bulgaria and Romania joined most recently, in March 2024. 4 non-EU countries (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein) are also part of Schengen.

Cuurent members: 27 countries

Applicants to join: 9 applicants

Economically we are better off standing alone

Single market: the European Union operates as a single market made up of the 27 EU countries and, with certain exceptions, 4 non-EU countries. This means goods, services, capital and persons can circulate freely, without technical, legal and bureaucratic barriers.

GDP: as one of the world’s biggest economies, GDP or the total value of all goods and services produced in the EU is almost €18 trillion. Germany has the largest share, followed by France and Italy. Services account for 74% of the EU’s GDP, and industry for almost all of the rest.

EU budget: the EU has its own budget to finance EU priorities and big projects that most EU countries could not finance on their own – either because of the project’s size or its cross-border nature. The current long-term budget runs from 2021 until 2027 and amounts to around €2 trillion.

Debt: the general government deficit across the EU is equivalent to 3.2% of GDP. Consolidated gross debt in the EU is 81% of GDP, down from its 2020 peak of 90% during the pandemic. Greece, Italy, France, Spain and Belgium have the highest debt, all with ratios of debt to GDP above 100%. Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Estonia have the lowest ratios.

Trade: the EU is the world’s largest exporter of manufactured goods and services. It accounts for around 14% of the world’s trade in goods.

Trading partners: the United States is the largest destination for EU exports of goods, while China is the largest origin for goods imports. 

We need to close the borders to stop immigration

Tourism: the EU is the world’s leading tourist destination, accounting for 40% of the world’s international visitors. Spain, France, Italy and Germany are among most visited destinations in the world, with tourists spending over 430 million nights annually in each of these four countries. EU residents also make nearly 1.2 billion tourism trips in a year for personal or business purposes, either inside their own country or to another EU country. This free movement is facilitated by the EU’s open borders.

Culture and multilingualism: the EU has a rich cultural and linguistic diversity. The languages spoken in EU countries are an essential part of its cultural heritage. This is why the EU supports multilingualism and has 24 official languages.

Language learning: in school, pupils are encouraged to learn new languages from an early age. This promotes contact with people across borders and makes studying abroad easier. 49% of upper secondary pupils in the EU study two or more foreign languages.

University graduates: over 4 million graduates every year. The most common fields of study are: business, administration and law; health and welfare; and engineering, manufacturing and construction.

Student exchanges: since 1987, student exchanges in the EU are organised through the Erasmus+ programme. In the first year, 3,200 students from 11 European countries participated. Since then, Erasmus+ has allowed 16 million people to live and study in 33 countries in the EU and beyond.

Myth Busting by Richard Corbett form UK MEP

If you were told that 80% of our laws were imposed upon us by an unelected foreign bureaucracy, you would of course consider it to be a democratic outrage. If, on top of that, you heard that it cost us millions of pounds per day for the privilege, you would probably be apoplectic. Yet this is exactly what certain politicians and several newspapers repeat again and again to the British people. And it is a load of nonsense.