Finance
Germany remains EU's top net contributor despite economic slump, study shows
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on November 26, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on November 26, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Germany remains the EU's top net contributor in 2024 despite economic challenges, with net payments decreasing from previous years.
By Rene Wagner and Maria Martinez
BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany remained the European Union's largest net contributor in 2024 despite its ongoing economic crisis, though its payments have fallen sharply from previous years, according to a study by the German Economic Institute IW seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
Europe's largest economy paid 13.1 billion euros ($15.09 billion) more into EU coffers than it received last year.
However, Germany's weakening economy is taking its toll: Net payments are in a downward trend, at 19.7 billion euros in 2022 and 17.4 billion euros in 2023.
France ranked second with net payments of 4.8 billion euros, followed by Italy at 1.6 billion euros.
Greece was the largest net recipient at 3.5 billion euros, ahead of Poland with 2.9 billion and Romania with 2.7 billion.
On a per capita basis, German citizens paid around 157 euros net to the EU, the highest amount, followed by Ireland at 130 euros.
MIRROR OF ECONOMIC POWER
"The EU budget is a mirror of the economic power relations in Europe," said IW expert Samina Sultan.
High-growth countries like Poland are receiving less support, while "Germany and France are the problem children of the EU."
Germany is forecast to grow below the European average again this year, meaning its net contribution is likely to decline further, Sultan said.
The EU Commission published statistics on net contributors and recipients until 2020 but has since stopped doing so for political reasons, according to the IW.
($1 = 0.8679 euros)
(Reporting by Rene Wagner, writing by Maria Martinez, editing by Miranda Murray)
A net contributor is a country that pays more into a system, such as the EU budget, than it receives in benefits or funding. This indicates a financial surplus in contributions.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the total economic output of a country. It reflects the value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period.
A financial crisis is a situation where financial institutions or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value, leading to economic instability and loss of confidence in the financial system.
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