1. Foreword
The European Union uses National Accounts data for a number of administrative and economic purposes. Gross National Income (GNI), calculated in accordance with the European System of Accounts, is used to set a ceiling on the EU budget and to calculate part of Member States contributions to the budget.
Back to table of contents2. UK transactions with the institutions of the European Union
Table 12.1 (62.5 Kb Excel sheet) shows payments flowing between the European Union and the UK. The first part of the table shows the payments flowing into the UK in the form of European Union expenditure. The second part of the table shows the UK contribution to the EU budget, which depends on UK Gross National Income (GNI).
Back to table of contents3. Data to monitor government deficit and debt
The convergence criteria for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) are set out in the 1992 Treaty on European Union (The Maastricht Treaty). The Treaty, plus the Stability and Growth Pact, required Member States to avoid excessive government deficits - defined as general government net borrowing and gross debt as a percentage of GDP.
Member States report their planned and actual deficits and the levels of their debt to the European Commission. Data to monitor excessive deficits are supplied in accordance with EU legislation.
The Treaty does not determine what constitutes ‘excessive’. This is agreed by the Economic and Finance Council (ECOFIN).
The UK submitted the estimates in Table 12.a to the European Commission in October 2014.
Table 12.a: Government deficit and debt
| 2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | |
| General government deficit | |||||
| Net borrowing (£ billion) | 162.7 | 143.1 | 123.7 | 125.8 | 102.3 |
| As a percentage of GDP | 10.8 | 9.1 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 5.9 |
| General government debt | |||||
| Debt at nominal value (£ billion) | 1,073.8 | 1,212.1 | 1,345.2 | 1,420.6 | 1,521.2 |
| As a percentage of GDP | 71.5 | 76.9 | 82.6 | 85.4 | 87.8 |
| Source: Office for National Statistics | |||||