GERMAN taxpayers will have to plug a £3.8 BILLION hole in the EU budget after Brexit.
The calculation has come in a report of the German contribution to an overall shortfall of £9billion when the UK pulls out in March 2019.
For Germany this represents a 16 per cent hike in payments to Brussels.
The sums were calculated by the Funke Media Group based on a new EU parliamentary study.
The European Union is uncertain whether individual states can pony up such huge sums and is considering both new continent wide taxes or budget cuts in the face of Brexit.
The Funke report said: "Brexit not only increases the financial burden for the EU-27, but also changes the distribution of burdens."
Germany and countries like the Netherlands and Sweden are currently benefiting from a discount on the "British rebate", with which London was able to reduce its payments.
These perks fall away after the Brexit.
According to the German report, France would have to pay 1.2 billion euros more, Italy around one billion. To date, Germany has paid net more than 14 billion and France 5 to 6 billion euros per year.
However, the amount that must be added to each country, in the end, depends on whether the EU is forced by Brexit into austerity mode.
Last month, The EU’s budget chief put forward a “new deal” to help the bloc cope with the financial losses that will come from Britain’s exit.
Günther Oettinger, the European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources, believes he has a way to close the EU budget black hole left by Brexit – and poorer bloc members will be hit the hardest.
In a blog post, he called for EU members who contribute more than they receive, such as Germany, France and the Netherlands, to be charged with plugging the gap in the Brussels budget.
However, those countries taking more from the EU than they put in would “have to accept more control over their structural projects in exchange for avoiding drastic cuts”, according to Mr Oettinger’s plan.
He explains: “One of the mechanisms by which this could work is conditionality. It means that structural funds are more aligned with structural reforms the EU wants the Member States to carry out.
“Every year, the EU Commission gives recommendations to its Member States on how to strengthen its economy, be it investments in broadband, universities or others, without any obligation to do so.
“One could therefore think of a positive conditionality: If these recommendations are implemented, the Member State would get extra money from a fund. But one could also make it work the other way round, as negative conditional ties.”
In Mr Oettinger’s blog post he also goes on to suggest that half of the money needed to close the budget gap left by Brexit should come from additional money by net payers, while the other half should come from cuts to existing EU programmes.
He explains that some EU beneficiaries “will have to accept some cuts in the existing programmes”.
Mr Oettinger said: “At the moment, we are reviewing every single programme in terms of his added value.
“If it does pass the test, ok. If not, it will be scrapped. At the end, this means that in terms of cuts and extra money, we will also have to strike a fair deal.”