The future EU budget: reconciling immovable objects and unstoppable forces…or not

Can the EU shrink its budget, protect spending on traditional programmes, and fund new priorities, all at once?

According to Professorial Research Fellow Iain Begg, this is the trilemma facing the EU budget for 2028 to 2034. Writing for UK in a Changing Europe, Begg explains that the tensions of these forces is surfacing in member states’ reaction to the Irish proposal to protect spending on farmers and regional development, likely to come at the cost of spending on competitiveness which is favoured by many net contributors to the EU’s finances.

Following an impasse at the European Council’s October meeting, a credible solution still seems distant ahead of November’s summit. In the meantime, Begg invites us to “sit back and enjoy the spectacle.”