This Position Paper (hereinafter “the Paper”) is a response to the ongoing negotiations on the next EU multiannual financial perspective (hereinafter “EU budget”) for 2021-2027, which started after the European Commission presented its proposed EU budget on 2 May 2018. Recently in the context of the COVID-19 health care and economic crisis, the European Commission updated its proposals, adding to them the suggestions for economic recovery of the EU. By taking the initial proposal of the European Commission as a basis for the analysis and comparing it to the updated version, the Paper assesses to what extent the newly proposed EU budget reflects the principles of maximizing added-value of the taxpayer’s money spent, contributing to the goals of the EU and its member states in a rapidly changing global environment as well as increasing transparency and democratic accountability with regards to taxpayers of the EU.
The Paper proceeds with the discussion of the size of the proposed EU budget, its revenue and expenditure items, assessing the proposals which form the ongoing negotiations in the EU27 and then suggesting the directions for the future reform of the EU budget. It is aimed at both policy makers and citizens of the EU27 who are interested in having the EU budget which in practice rather than in rhetoric contributes to the wellbeing and security of citizens.
Full position may be found here.
