Pay €5 to enter the EU after transition period ends

HOLIDAYMAKERS face being charged hiked up fees to visit EU countries, as the European Commission scrambles to plug the Brexit black hole in the union’s budget.

At the end of the proposed transition period for Britain leaving in 2021, the EU will have a shortfall of up to £13.3billion a year in its budget.

EU budgets last up to seven years and the end of the current one would coincides with the end of a Brexit transition period.

Among the schemes thought up by Eurocrats to drum up cash is to raid revenues from the EU’S new border system, which from 2020 will charge €5 (£4.45) to non-eu nationals from countries that do not need visas to travel to the EU. The commission is considering plans to increase the entrance charge to boost the bloc’s coffers, according to the Financial Times.

The fee is already likely to be upped to €7 (£6.23), EU sources said, after talks between national governments and the European Parliament.

The European Travel Information and Authorisation System is a shared database that will register and track non-eu visitors into the bloc’s passport-free Schengen zone.

After Brexit, British travellers are likely to be included in the 30 million people who will pay the fee.

When contacted by The Daily Telegraph, the commission refused to confirm or deny what it called “speculation” and said there was a long way to go before any post-2020 budget plans were finalised.