BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany and other net contributors to the joint European Union budget will have to pay out more once Britain leaves the bloc, European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said in comments published on Monday.
Britain's net contribution of some 9 billion euros ($9.55 billion) could not be offset totally through future budget cuts, he told Handelsblatt business daily in an interview for its Tuesday edition.
German Oettinger's brief covers the EU's budget and human resources.
Germany, Europe's largest economy, makes the largest net contribution to the EU budget each year at more than 15 billion euros.
According to an internal Finance Ministry report in September, Germany may have to contribute an extra 4.5 billion euros in 2019 and 2020, after Britain leaves.
Senior German government officials have said the EU budget must shrink if Britain's contribution falls away.
Oettinger said the EU was considering further cut agricultural subsidies, but it still needed more funds given other issues that Brussels wanted to take on, such as tackling the causes of migration and bolstering joint defence.
(Reporting by Michael Nienaber, editing by John Stonestreet)
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