2026-04-27 20:23
publication
2026-04-27 20:23
Radical changes to the EU budget for 2028-2034 pushed by the European Commission may not be good for the Community, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said on Monday. The auditors criticized, among others, combination of cohesion and agricultural policies and uncertain sources of EU revenues.
The ECA hopes that the European Parliament and member states will take into account the reservations raised when working on the new budget, which, according to the EC's proposal, is to amount to EUR 2 trillion. Currently, countries within the EU Council and the European Parliament are working on the new EU “seven-year plan” in parallel, which will adopt an opinion on the EC's proposal at its meeting on Tuesday in Strasbourg.
EU auditors noted that the broad changes to the EU budget proposed by the EC will lead to a complete change in the way EU spending is planned, managed and controlled. In the ECA's opinion, the introduction of changes pushed by the EC may not improve the spending of future EU funds, but may even complicate it.
An example of such a fundamental change is the establishment of a European fund with an exceptionally high amount of EUR 865 billion. Under this fund, the EC wants to combine key EU policies that have previously operated separately, such as cohesion for regional development and agriculture. The money from it is to be spent based on national and regional partnership plans, which will be prepared separately for each Member State.
The European Fund is therefore to largely replicate the model of implementing National Reconstruction Plans (KPO), under which money is awarded to countries for implementing the reforms and investments previously agreed in the KPO. Meanwhile, the ECA – as its members recalled on Monday – has repeatedly pointed out the shortcomings of the KPO related to unclear rules of accountability and transparency. “Some of these issues have already been resolved, while others have not,” the EU auditors stressed.
They also noted that, according to the EC's proposal, the new budget will be nearly 60 percent larger compared to the current “seven-year budget”, which amounts to EUR 1.2 trillion.
To finance the new spending, the Commission has envisaged introducing new EU own revenues. A new feature will be the payment of fees to the EU treasury for uncollected e-waste, tobacco products and enterprises operating on the EU common market.
Member countries must agree to establish such levies. – If new sources of revenue are not accepted, the resulting shortfall in budget funds will have to be covered by increasing the contributions of member states or withdrawing some of the ambitious budget proposals – warned the ECA.
The ECA's reservations also apply to the proposal that provides for the possibility for Member States to use loans from the EU to finance activities provided for in the EU budget. Their maximum amount could be as much as EUR 150 billion, which, according to EU auditors, would be unprecedented.
– It should also be noted that the proposed loans would result in a significant increase in EU debt – added the ECA.
From Strasbourg Magdalena Cedro (PAP)
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