The European Commission is prepared to help the Netherlands and other net payers into the EU coffers, the Volkskrant reports on Tuesday, quoting budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski.

On Monday the paper published leaked calculations showing the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany are still the biggest net payers into the EU’s coffers. The payment is based on national income, plus a share of value-added and import tax receipts.
Lewandowski said it is important that there is support within EU member states for their contributions and politicians need to explain this to the electorate. Nevertheless, the Commission is prepared to set up a ‘compensation mechanism’ to help net payers, he said.
The paper did not give any more details of what form this compensation could take. The Netherlands had a €1bn discount in 2005, the last time EU contributions for individual members were amended.