The Commission published, on 21 September 2006, its Financial report on 2005 and 'Allocation of 2005 EU expenditure by Member State'. The reports cover the first year after the 2004 enlargement wave, which had ten countries joining the EU at once, as well as the first full year of the Barroso Commission in Ooffice. 2005 was also marked by the dispute on the 2007 - 2013 financial perspective and by the terrorist attacks in London on 7 July. The figures published by the Commission allow a number of inferences:
- In total figures, the EU spent €104.8 billion (executed expenditure), a 4.7% raise over the 2004 expenditure (€100.1 billion).
- In terms of allocated EU expenditure, the 15 'old' member states in the EU received €87 billion (89.4%) in EU allocations, the ten new ones €9 billion (10.6%).
- The EU spent € 227 per capita in the 'old' member states; € 123 were spent in the the 'new' member states.
- Four old member states (Spain, France, Germany and Italy) each received more in allocations than the ten new member states taken together.
- The biggest lump of money (€14.82 billion) was spent in Spain; in 2004, the biggest sum ever spent by the EU in one country within a year (€16.36 billion) went to Spain also.
- What was spent more in 2005 than in 2004 went entirely into agriculture, where €4.9 billion more was spent than in the previous year; mostly in direct aid.
- 92,3% (€44.7 billion) of the EU's agriculture spending went to the 'old' member states, with France (20.7%), Germany (13.5%), Spain (13.3%) and Italy (11.4%) accounting for 58.9% of the spending.
- €1.4 billion less (€32.8 billion as compared to € 34.2 billion in 2004) were spent on structural actions, with the biggest cuts in Objective 1 structural funds (€ 1.4 billion) and cohesion funds (€420 million).
- Spain (24.4%) was the greatest recipient of structural actions, followed by Germany (14.1%), Italy (13.2%) and the UK (10.5%). Together, the four countries received 62.2% of EU spending on structural actions. The ten new member states received 5.5%.
- Poland is the member state with the highest unemployment and the biggest structural problems. Nevertheless, the country with 38 million inhabitants (8,3% of the EU population) received only 4.2% (€4 billion) of the EU's allocated expenditure.
Under the 2007 - 2013 financial perspective, the picture is bound to change, with new budget headings and a commitment to bringing down agricultural spending (See EurActiv's LinksDossier on the Financial Perspective 2007-2013).
