- Political stability
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submited on 13.11.2014 in category Regulated markets | Fiscal affairs | Privatisation | Political stability | Monetary policy | Macroeconomic developments
A new study with participation of Industry Watch economists sheds light on the fiscal impact of migrants within the EU. EU citizens living in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and the UK contribute more than what they get from the social systems of the host country. During the period 2007 – 2013, in all four countries, EU migrants made a positive contribution to the state budget, with the total taxes they paid exceeding the total benefits they received by between 0.2 and 0.9% of GDP depending on the country. Even when pension-related benefits and contributions are not taken into account the net positive contribution remains for Austria, Germany and the UK, with this balance turning slightly negative for the Netherlands alone.
These results are according to a new report from the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS), which was presented on 12th November at a conference in the European Parliament in Brussels. Members of the European Parliament and experts from international organizations participated in the discussion. Latchezar Bogdanov, leader of the research team states that “EU migrants receive on average 50% less in terms of social benefit expenditures than the average citizen of the four host countries. If old-age pension contributions are not taken into account, EU migrants still receive between 14% and 31% less than the average citizen.”
Despite the fact that some Member States label EU migrants as being burdens to their social security systems, the study shows that the data available do not support these arguments. “The EU should call on the Member States to collect harmonized data on the impact of free movement in their respective countries if we are to have an evidence-based debate on this issue” remarked Assya Kavrakova, ECAS’ Director.
Based on the evidence of this study, ECAS has formulated the 4th Strategy of the “Right To Move” campaign, calling on Member States to collect disaggregated data on free movement in a systematic way across the EU in order to feed an informed debate on its impact.
More on the opinion of key participants here