"The EU's efforts to reform its budget during 2010 will need to be situated within the context of its objectives for 2020. Both the EU's climate change targets and the economic objectives it will finalise in its EU 2020 strategy will share this decade-long pursuit, and must be advanced together.
Within that context it will fall to the European Commission to publish outline proposals for budget reform that can deliver on these twin decade-long efforts at transformational change. It can do so drawing from the clear mandate for reform provided by the responses to the 2008 budget review consultation, which identified climate, energy and competitiveness as the top three priorities for future EU budget spending.
While the European Commission has the formal lead among the Brussels institutions, the willingness of member states to engage positively on this agenda will be crucial. They too have a responsibility to their citizens to ensure that budget reform proposals can deliver action on shared challenges. But the inertia inherent in budget politics means that ongoing advocacy in support of a low-carbon EU budget will undoubtedly be required from civil society and private sector alike to ensure that all EU institutions and member states feel empowered to take far-reaching reform decisions.
Yet if democratic influence from below will be required to secure budget action, so too must EU institutions and member states seize this tangible opportunity for positive engagement with Europe's citizens. A budget fit for the future would be a more direct demonstration of the EU's added value than any of the institutional reform efforts of recent years. This is an opening where the European Parliament can work closely with new Council President Herman Van Rompuy to actively shape the agenda, ensuring that the need for a low-carbon budget is firmly embedded into the priorities of both the European Commission and Council alike.
For as European Commission President Barroso underlined at the start of the budget review process, this is a "once in a generation opportunity to make a reform of the budget," adding that "this is about much more than money. This is about a vision for Europe".
That is indeed the challenge of 2010 and the coming decade. The message is positive from the viewpoints published here: bold budget reforms will unlock clear low-carbon results."
