The European Commission has published the Reflection Paper on the Future of EU Finances, which aims to propose new perspectives for reforming the post-2020 EU budget to address emerging global challenges.
The paper addresses numerous points, in particular:
- Reform of the EU budget inspired by the principles of European added value, accountability, flexibility, and simplification;
- Reform of Cohesion Policy, by revising the principles for allocating funds and providing a single regulatory framework to ensure consistency in fund management. The focus on financial instruments is a cause for concern;
- New methods for financing the EU budget, through a combination of different revenue streams (reform of the VAT-based contribution, correction of the UK rebate following Brexit, considering revenue generated from currency issuance, etc.)
- Proposal of five scenarios for the future of the EU:
- Carrying on: the EU-27 continues to implement its positive reform agenda;
- Doing less together: the EU-27 does less together in all policy areas
- Those who want more do more: the EU-27 allows groups of Member States to do more together in specific areas
- Radical redesign: the EU-27 does more in some areas and less in others
- Doing much more together: the EU-27 decides to do more together in all policy areas
The report is the last of five reflection papers that have identified a series of proposals for the future of the EU-27.
The Commission will examine all reactions to these documents in order to present its proposals for the next multiannual financial framework around mid-2018.
Click here to view the full briefing along with the report.
