evidence: Although the financial flows between the Member States and the EU budget represent only a part of EU policy, they are nevertheless a particularly important one. There are various ways of calculating the net position. In the following, this report uses the method of the European Commission, which excludes customs revenues on the revenue side and administrative expenditures on the expenditure side. Accordingly, in 2021 ten states paid more into the EU budget than they received from it; they were thus net contributors. 17 states were net recipients. If we first compare the absolute amounts, we see that Germany was the largest net contributor in 2021 with an amount of 21.4 billion euros. It is followed by France with 10.9 billion euros and the Netherlands with just under 4.1 billion euros. The top 5 are rounded out by Sweden (EUR 2.5 billion) and Denmark (around EUR 1.5 billion). In terms of net recipients, Poland leads with EUR 12.9 billion. It is followed by Greece with EUR 4.7 billion and Hungary with EUR 4.3 billion. Romania (EUR 4.2 billion) and Spain (EUR 3.5 billion) take the other places.