Why are we paying to build Polish roads, when ours have potholes?

UK taxpayer pays into a £54 billion EU fund and receives NOTHING back

The overcrowded S5 motorway in Poland

UK is funding the new infrastructure of 15 EU countries, in a massive EU wealth transfer scheme

This will continue, under Mrs May’s surrender treaty. Remain MPs and campaigners are fond of talking about the ‘EU money’ which is received for projects in the UK. Well, here’s a £54 BILLION EU fund which British taxpayers pay into, but from which the UK receives absolutely nothing back.

UK pays for new roads & green agenda for 15 EU countries

The EU has thousands of funds. One of the more significant is called the ‘Cohesion Fund’. The EU describes it as being:-

“allocated to trans-European transport networks and to projects falling under EU environmental priorities”

It’s spent by the 15 qualifying EU member states on improving their roads, railways, and waterways, as well as projects falling under ‘environment protection, low-carbon economy, and climate change’.

In the EU’s current 7-year budget for 2014-2020 this fund has been allocated €63.3 billion euros - approximately £54 billion GBP.

This is all part of a much bigger project. After 2020, “the European Commission has proposed that the EU spends €373 billion in the next programme period, 2021-2027, on cohesion policy”.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Questions for Remain MPs

Did you even know about this £54 BILLION EU fund?
When did you approve a wealth transfer scheme from the UK to other members of the EU?
45% is spent on 'climate change' projects - is this an appropriate share for this, for such a large fund?
If it is, why should this expenditure be restricted to just 15 member states?
Why does just one country (Poland) receive 36.7% of the total fund?
The unelected EU Commission decides where the money goes – shouldn’t you have a say?
Do you think the EU should be re-thinking funds like this to see where savings could be made, rather than expecting the UK to continue funding the development of 15 countries?
Are there not parts of the UK that badly need new road and rail infrastructure?
Would your constituents not prefer their own roads fixed and rail services improved, instead?

Who gets this money?

Despite contributing to the fund, the UK receives nothing at all from it.

The fund is in effect a wealth transfer scheme to 15 EU countries, ostensibly aimed at standardising cross-border transport and energy infrastructure. It also advances the EU's climate change agenda.

The current recipients are the following 15 countries:

Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Estonia
Greece

Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Poland

Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Cyprus

Here is the allocation of the funds by member state.

As readers can see, Poland is by far the biggest individual recipient from this £54 billion fund, receiving an astonishing 37% of the entire amount.

Two examples of use of funds

1. New Polish roads

The overcrowded S5 motorway in Poland

“Once completed, these highways will provide new economic opportunities for citizens and businesses in Poland, stimulating industry, tourism and trade. Polish citizens will thus be able to benefit from shorter travel times and improved road safety.”
EU’s Regional Policy Commissioner Corina Creţu, 06 Sept 2018

2. Croatian Inland Waterways

In another example we looked at, the Croatian government says:

“The goal is therefore to improve and restore the inland waterway system in Croatia, in order to make it more attractive and specific in comparison with other modes of transport.”
Croatian Government website

Observations

Many readers will live in areas where the roads are in disrepair, and train, tram and underground services are well below standard.

Well, at least you can rest easy at night, knowing that you’ve been paying for wonderful new roads and metro stations in Poland, and paying for the Croatian waterway system to look nice.

All of this courtesy of the UK taxpayer.

Even better news is that you will keep on paying, under Mrs May’s surrender treaty, otherwise known as the ‘Withdrawal Agreement’.

IMPORTANT POINT: Don't blame the Poles, Croatians, or any othe recipients of the UK taxpayers' largesse. All these projects are badged as being "Funded by the European Union". Just as UK taxpayers have no idea that they're paying for all of this, neither do the peoples in the countries receiving these massive funds. They just think it comes "from the EU".

For as long as we can, the Brexit Facts4EU.Org team will continue to shed some light on the many and various ways the EU has been spending the UK’s net contributions over the last 46 years. Astonishingly the UK will continue to pay, under Mrs May's abominable surrender treaty.

Do please support us with a donation if you can. This stuff doesn’t research and write itself, alas.

[ Sources: EU Commission | Croatian government website | Various Polish government sites ]

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, 07 May 2019

Something to say about this? Scroll down for reader comments

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Reader Comments 8

1. Enough, UK , Tuesday, May 07, 2019, 06:05:

Well done for the wonderful EU for building all these roads! Are there any Polish people left in Poland to use them?

2. Patrick F , Tuesday, May 07, 2019, 06:30:

Off topic, but could I congratulate Harry and Megan on the birth of their son.
I suggest they name the boy Brexit, as he was overdue.

3. Catherine, Dollar , Tuesday, May 07, 2019, 07:11:

Concession to the EU, the roads in Poland were awful. Bumpy, dangerous roads are an enormous hindrance to an economy. Our roads are now pretty bad .. So when we stay in the EU, we must harangue Brussels to be added to the Cohesion Fund.
I remember the EIB financed road and bridge building outside the EU (then), in Yugoslavia. Proposals passed after risk assessment said no political risk. Bombed to smithereens in the civil war.
Main comment: very timely article. Out on the streets, gently recommending a pro-Brexit vote on Saturday in Scotland: passer-by after passer-by said 'we get so much from the EU'. One specifically went on and on, about how the EU paid for our roads. I said they didn't, they paid for Portugal's roads. He simply didn't believe me. I'll take along your article next time.

4. Mandy, Sheffield , Tuesday, May 07, 2019, 07:27:

Remainers, it's time you wake up and smell the bitumen! Oh, that's right you can't, it's far far away, in places like Poland and Bulgaria.

5. Paul A , Tuesday, May 07, 2019, 08:33:

Not wishing to cast aspersions on the probity of the EU who do such a wonderful job of hiding the truth and obfuscating;
Poland receives 37% of this 'fund' and Tusk is Polish.
Just saying.
Usual unpleasant and nasty EUkky smell there..

6. Deeply concerned in direction of Europe under EU , Tuesday, May 07, 2019, 09:10:

I think the whole ethos of the EU is to ruin Great Britain.
Once that is achieved, the EU can Lord it over the whole of the European land mass. We will then live behind a new 'Iron Curtain' so no surprise that services are being run down in the UK to build other places up.

7. kzb , Tuesday, May 07, 2019, 09:13:

The reduction in carbon emissions paid for by the UK in other countries should be subtracted from our UK carbon emissions. If we weren't paying to reduce Polish carbon emissions, we could use that money to cut our own.

8. R. Ellison , Tuesday, May 07, 2019, 10:07:

Didn't Hitler build excellent motorway systems? And before him, didn't the Roman Army create straight road networks for rapid deployment of its army to overcome the Brits? Won't the EU Army likewise be readily deployable, at top speed, to anywhere in the EU? After all, an excellent and fast road and rail network and no borders to contend with. No permissions requested to enter into neighbouring countries, correction 'States'. Any popular riots anywhere within the EU can now be put down, with force, using an assortment of nationalities within this new EU Army, and so no local loyalties at stake. Job done. Total control by the unelected Dictators directing operations from their glass menagerie in Brussels.

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