About: EU budget 2014-2020

Blending funds will be the new way to finance EU projects

With less money at hand, the EU will have to become more efficient and innovative in the way it seeks to finance new initiatives and blend funds from different sources, but will actors be able to quickly align to this new way of thinking, asks Mercedes Sánchez Varela.

Next EU budget should put value for money first

European and national parliaments will need to work more closely together in their scrutiny of public spending, to ensure EU money gets to the right people at the right time, and is spent on the right things, writes Vitor Caldeira.

Budget Games

The Commission and the Council take advantage of the traditional EU decision-making lack of transparency to play “budget games” with the Parliament. But MEPs want to see all cards on the table for the EU public to see, writes Ivailo Kalfin.

EU budget: Deal done, mission not accomplished

Now that a budget deal has been brokered between EU heads of states and governments, NGOs intend to be uncompromising in tracking the spending decisions at national level, writes Markus Trilling .

An EU budget for recovery and Europe’s citizens

The next long-term budget for the EU must recognise cities’ potential for playing a much greater role in the economic recovery and therefore the urgent priority for investment in urban Europe, writes Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz.

If the EU cuts funding to technology, Europe risks being left behind

The EU's next seven-year budget – and its R&D component – is an opportunity to provide a platform for growth and to determine where we see ourselves in a new world order, writes Tom Enders.

A green European budget

European leaders must look at the bigger picture during the EU budget summit. They have to unleash the green potential within EU spending that has already taken root in many countries, writes former president of the European Commission Jacques Delors.

An EU corporate tax: Breaking the shackles of austerity?

A European-level corporate tax could have bigger and more effective anti-cyclical effects than the financial transaction tax backed by some EU leaders, Ian Begg argues.

EU budget debate: Some one trillion euro questions and answers

Keti Medarova-Bergstrom and Pawel Swidlicki put their heads together to identify why and where EU budgetary spending has got it wrong in the past and propose how roughly €1 trillion can better serve Europe's environment, economy and people in the next funding period.

Regional funds: It’s not the quantity, it’s the quality

Western and Eastern European governments fighting over some billions less or more to the EU's next multi-annual budget (2014-2020) would better focus on how to spend this precious resource, writes Miroslav Mojžiš.

1,000 words for the EU budget 2014-20

If the scheduled extraordinary European Council in November does not agree on a framework for the 2014-2020 budget or if the European Parliament denies its approval, the future of the EU will be held hostage to an unstable and unmanageable environment, argues Ivailo Kalfin.

The EU budget: lean and green

With a significant rise of climate-related spending, the European Commission's proposed next EU budget demonstrates a clear commitment to sustainable growth and transforming Europe into a low-carbon society, argues EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard.

A Real Budget for Europe ?

The European Commission showed political courage in pushing for an increase of the EU budget and proposing so-called 'own resources' on the revenue side, despite the climate of Euroscepticism maintained by the governments of some countries, argues French MEP Alain Lamassoure.

A scientific Europe is imperative

Helga Nowotny of the European Research Council analyses the future of research, innovation and development in Europe, particularly in light of the upcoming determination of the EU's long-term budget for the period 2014-2020.