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The Political Economy of Financing the EU budget

Author

Listed:
  • Massimo Bordignon

    (Università Cattolica, Milano)

  • Simona Scabrosetti

    (Università di Pavia and DONDENA)

Abstract

By adopting a more specific political economy perspective, this paper aims at contributing to the debate on reforming the actual system of funding the EU budget. We argue that the present debate is often ill focused and that what is really at stake is the nature of the European Union, whether this is just a club of sovereign states or a true federation directly affecting European citizens, who have then the right to be represented even on matters concerning the EU budget. We also argue that the main reason to reform the present system lies in the legitimacy crisis the EU is currently facing and that proposed reforms should be assessed on the basis of their ability to address this problem. Also, a dynamic perspective, asking how a budget reform would affect the bargaining positions of the different European institutions, is essential to understand the forces at play and to assess the possibility that a reform will take place.

Suggested Citation

  • Massimo Bordignon & Simona Scabrosetti, 2016. "The Political Economy of Financing the EU budget," Working papers 42, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
  • Handle: RePEc:ipu:wpaper:42
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Clemens Fuest & Friedrich Heinemann & Martin Ungerer, 2015. "Reforming the Financing of the European Union: A Proposal," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 50(5), pages 288-293, September.
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    5. Kauppi, Heikki & Widgren, Mika, 2007. "Voting rules and budget allocation in the enlarged EU," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 693-706, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marco Catola & Pietro Guarnieri & Veronica Pizziol & Chiara Rapallini, 2023. "Measuring the attitude towards a European public budget: A cross-country experiment," Discussion Papers 2023/300, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    2. Cipriani, Gabriele, 2016. "Reforming the EU’s Budget Revenue: The case for a visible VAT-based resource," CEPS Papers 11979, Centre for European Policy Studies.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    own resources; EU budget; EU tax; EU institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H6 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations

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