Relations between the Central-European trade routes and revenues of EU members

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to anaylse the trade and economic relations of European Union member states which are important gate of EU trade with third countries. This research highlights the shifting of the trade routes and economic geographic process. What kind of impacts are there in EU countries that a significant part of EU-Chine trade has been moving from vessels to freight trains or to combined, overland-maritime transportation. It has partly taken out the former China – Rotterdam/Hamburg maritime way. This paper is analysing the role of Port of Piraeus in this process as the pretty new but very important port for the Chinese COSCO maritime transportation company and on other hand how does the new structure change the revenues for the members in this situation. Methodology - The study employs the so-called collection cost. It is an important revenue for the member states. It comes from the Traditional own resources, it is 20 percent of the tariffs. It remains in the budget of EU member states and only 80 percent goes to the Brussels budget. The old members especially Netherlands, Belgium and Germany want to protect their own current position and share in the integration trade with third/external partners. It means that these countries can handle the tariff administration and get the mentioned 20 percent amount. Findings - The analysis reveals that the new EU members with high potential in international trade would like to recut the “trade-cake” to receive higher benefits from it due to the mentioned collection cost or the value-added-tax related to logistics and manufacturing industries. Conclusion - Based upon the analysis, it may be concluded that every member state can increase the profit from the collection cost and value-added-tax and on other hand they can decrease the direct GNI-based contribution to EU’s budget due to a better position in international trade. Keywords: Collection cost, one belt one road, tariffs, Port of Rotterdam, Port of Piraeus, Port of Hamburg JEL Codes: F15, H54, N74