EU budget reform

EU budget reform

Key points

The review of the European budget comes in the context of the sensitive ratification period of the Lisbon Treaty and is directly connected to the debate on cohesion and research policy and the CAP "health check". The Committee stresses that courageous analysis of the Structural Funds, cohesion funds, regional policies etc. needs to be carried out, to analyse in particular their impact and effectiveness in the new Member States. The Committee believes that a broad consensus will have to be sought with national parliaments and local and regional authorities and above all, priority should be given to the principle of each Member State's fiscal capacity, also taking into account the increased scale of spending objectives. The Committee underlines that greater sharing of responsibility between the Commission and Member States in budget implementation is an important element, not least in involving all the economic and social players (as set out in the new Article 274 of the Lisbon Treaty).