EU har haft reelle egne indtægter, som hang sammen med Unionens kompetencer på handelsområdet, nemlig toldafgifterne, men lige siden EU blev stiftet, har det bestræbt sig på at ophæve dem.
With its powers in the commercial sphere, the European Union has had properly coherent resources that have genuinely been its own, namely customs duties. Ever since it was founded, the EU has been contriving to destroy those resources.