Changes in Public Expenditures Policy at European Union Level (after 1990)

The aim of this paper is to present the significant changes in public expenditures policy at European Union level, after 1990. Firstly, the paper analyzes the dynamics of public expenditures over a period of time between 1991-2009 and shows that countries which started to reduce public expenditure since the 1990s have recorded considerable decreases, in comparison with those who have started the process of fiscal reform later (after 2000). Secondly, in order to explain the dynamics of public expenditure, there has been done an analysis on the functional and economic structure of public expenditure. There are differences in the dynamics of these categories of public expenditure from one EU Member State to another, depending on the degree of economic and social development, but also on tax reform policies of the public authorities.