Financing the EU Budget - Moving Forward or Backwards?

Often described as complex, opaque and unfair, the EU budget financing system is an ‘unfinished journey’. One of the most critical issues is that EU revenue, drawn from the cashbox of national taxation, remains impalpable to the general public. The nature of the EU as a union of states and their nationals makes the visibility of EU revenue unavoidable. The political sustainability of a move that would put the legitimacy of EU revenue at the forefront of public discussion will depend on the European Commission’s ability to show that EU funds can achieve results that are truly beyond member states’ reach. The value-added tax (VAT) is a natural choice for funding the EU budget, through a dedicated EU VAT rate as part of the national VAT and designed as such in fiscal receipts, whose use as a means for raising EU citizens’ awareness could be encouraged already in the current arrangements.

Preface 1. The EU budget revenue system EU revenue: A short history What do ‘own resources’ actually mean? To each its own The price of unanimity Who pays how much? Concluding remarks 2. Simplicity, transparency, equity and democratic accountability Four good reasons for change The drawbacks of the 2011 Commission’s proposals New VAT-based resource Financial transaction tax Correction mechanism Reducing the burden on national budgets? Two categories of revenue sources for the EU budget Back to the past Making an EU resource visible to citizens Concluding remarks 3. EU expenditure: The other side of the same coin The legitimacy of EU revenue How much money for the EU budget? Concluding remarks References