EbS Guy Verhofstadt said the EU should raise its own taxes

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Brexit negotiator and liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt said allowing eurocrats to employ its own continent-wide levies would “create a direct link between the EU and its citizens”. He claimed most people would not mind coughing up their hard earned wages to Brussels rather than their own countries so long as the payments came to the same amount as before.

During a press conference in Strasbourg this morning the former Belgian PM also called for the EU to assume increased “capabilities on intelligence and investigation” to fight the terror threat. And he delivered a veiled criticism of Theresa May’s offer on citizens’ rights, saying that it was unacceptable that the proposed new system would treat EU nationals through the prism of the immigration system.

Mr Verhofstadt said the hole in the bloc’s budget that will be created by Brexit provides a perfect opportunity to reform the project’s revenue streams by allowing it to raise direct taxes. He told reporters: “For this first time we have a paper on the table who is putting the right questions on the reform of the European budget and has no fear to talk about a different funding of the European Union and of the European budget. “So the paper of the Commission and more especially the proposals of [budget] Commissioner [Gunther] Oettinger take fully on board the idea to transfer the so-called GNI contributions of member states into own resources. Why? Because then you create a direct link.”

For the citizens it doesn’t make a big difference Guy Verhofstadt

He added: “For the citizens it doesn’t make a big difference, it’s exactly the same amount they’ve got to pay - they’ve got to pay it not to the member state but they’re going to pay it directly to the Union. “But the advantage is that you create a direct link between the European Union and the citizens and that you can also get rid of debates because in such a system rebates are no longer allowed or needed, because the funding comes directly from companies and citizens to the Union.” The current EU budget is bankrolled almost exclusively by member state contributions, with the rest of the cash coming from fines for breach of its rules. Currently the bloc is not allowed to enter debt, and so can only raise and spend what the 28 European capitals agree to provide it with. Mr Verhofstadt was also asked about Britain’s proposals to the EU on the future of citizens’ rights, which he said will be addressed in detail by the Parliament’s steering group on Brexit in due course.

G20 Summit, latest pictures Thu, July 6, 2017 Leaders of the world's top economies will gather from July 7 to 8, 2017 in Germany for likely the stormiest G20 summit in years, with disagreements ranging from wars to climate change and global trade Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 21 German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) and US President Donald Trump shake hands prior to a bilateral meeting on the eve of the G20 summit in Hamburg