After the shock Brexit victory in 2016, eurosceptic movements have grown across the EU with Finland now the latest country to lash out at Brussels.
Today the country’s Europe minister said the EU had responded terribly to Brexit, claiming its push for more Europe was the exact opposite of what needed to be done.
And with the UK set to leave a huge hole in the EU’s budget, Sampo Terho said it would be “unbearable” if other countries were forced to make up the loss.
He told the Telegraph: “When the EU becomes smaller the budget should become smaller. That’s all there is to it.
“If that gap were to be filled with other countries’ payments, I see that as an unbearable solution.”
He said Brexit meant the EU should take a step back and reconsider its growing influence – not push for a United States of Europe, which Mr Terho said was the “absolutely wrong conclusion”.
It comes as the EU comes to terms with the huge budget gap sparked by the UK’s departure – with four countries in particular nursing a much larger bill than the rest.
Brexit will open up a vast €10.2billion (£8.99bn) hole in the EU’s coffers when the UK permanently quits the bloc in 2021 with Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany facing a sharp increase.
The new research, published by the European Parliament, will spark genuine fear in Brussels as three of the four nations – Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands – already have very large and growing Eurosceptic populations.
The situation arises because the UK, under Margaret Thatcher’s leadership in 1984, negotiated a 66 per cent discount on its net contribution to the EU – which the other countries in the bloc at the time agreed to make up for.
But Austria, Sweden, Germany and The Netherlands made special deals to pay only 25 per cent of their share of the rebate.
So when the UK exits, the “rebates on the rebate” will no longer apply, meaning €1.7bn (£1.5bn) will instead have to be paid – and redistributed from the four countries to other member states.