Plastics tax, carbon trading cash to cover Brexit gap in EU budget - officials

A top European Union official Charles Michel proposed on Friday to fill the Brexit hole in the bloc's next long-term budget with revenue from a new tax on plastics and funds from trading carbon emissions. Presenting a so-called negotiating box, which will form the basis of intense horse-trading between 27 EU national leaders at a summit on Feb. 20, Michel proposed a budget for 2021-27 at 1.074% of the EU's gross national income, or 1.095 trillion euros ($1.19 trillion).

The departure of Britain from the bloc on Jan. 31 leaves a gap of more than 10 billion euros a year in the EU's joint coffers given that London was a leading net contributor to the budget after Germany.