Publication

At the launch of a public consultation on the EU budget last month, Commission president Barroso explained the need to reform the budget in terms of a need to “focus EU spending on the right areas”. But have we not heard this before? The past 20 years have seen a series of unsuccessful attempts to reform the EU budget. Despite a growing consensus that the budget does not correspond to the realities of the EU, it has proved extremely difficult to reach a political agreement among the member states on how to improve it.