Press Release: EU budget: smallest surplus ever

In 2007, Member States' contributions to the European Union budget almost exactly matched the agreed spending for the year so that there was the smallest EU budget surplus ever with a 90% drop from 2000 and a steady 17% decrease from 2006. The continued downward trend reflects the European Commission's efforts to ensure Member States' payments to EU coffers are limited to what is strictly necessary. The end-of-year surplus - the difference between all EU budget revenue and spending - amounted to only just over 1% (€1 529 million) of the total €113.846 billion agreed spending for 2007.