The EU’s Payers and Payees

A superb graphic showing the EU budget: who pays in (9 countries) and who gets paid (18 countries).

(Click image to enlarge)

I note that a few relatively rich countries (Luxembourg, Belgium, and Ireland) do well out of the EU. The Lux and the Belg because lots of Eurocrats are housed there. But what explains the luck of the Irish?

Update: The Germans call them the Nehmerlaenden (takerlands) and Geberlaenden (giverlands).

Source: Hennig, B. D. and Dorling, D. (2012), Financing the European Union. Political Insight, 3: 34. doi: 10.1111/j.2041-9066.2012.00111.x