Browse our collection of papers in
Political Integration and Alliances

S/E/226. An explanation of the changes in spending priorities in the EU budget

WORDS:

800

DATE:

2010

PRICE:

9.99 GBP

The paper examines the EU budget and how it has come to symbolise one of the main steps toward European integration. Spending priorities have shifted over the years, and the research discusses such changes in relation to the receipts and payments of the EU member-state, Germany. The research shows how, in the 1980s, just over 10 per cent of the budget was spent on cohesion policy, but how in 2013, the expected figure is likely to be 37%. Germany paid about €20 billion in the EU budget in 2004 which stood an equivalent of 8% of the German government tax revenue. But over the years Germany's payments have reflected a decline in the country's economic weight. The paper argues that the political priorities of driving further integration have influenced EU budgetary concerns. A number of sources – including Deutsche Bundesbank Monthly report and works on European fiscal and political integration – support the paper's arguments.

KEYWORDS: EU budget, EU integration, Germany, Common Agricultural Policy, EU Cohesion policy,