Slovakia to remain a net beneficiary in EU's 2020-27 period

Slovakia and the rest of the Visegrad Four countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) have already informally indicated that they are ready to contribute a greater part to the common European budget between 2020-27, the head of Slovakia's Permanent Representation to the EU Peter Javorčík told TASR on Tuesday. He noted that Slovakia will probably remain a net beneficiary in the next programme period, but this will be the last time that it will receive more from the EU budget than it gives. He admitted at the same time that the future financial prospects of the EU will be different because the United Kingdom, which is to leave the European Union in March 2019, has been a strong net contributor to the EU budget. This loss will have to be compensated for by other member states. "The logical conclusion is that if we also want to maintain traditional policies such as cohesion and agriculture, the contributions of member countries will have to be higher," said the Slovak ambassador to the EU, stressing that Slovakia and the other V4 countries indicated in Brussels that they are ready for such an increase.