In a speech to the European Parliament on 18th February 1987 the Commission President Delors publicly announced the Commission's proposals for a fundamental reorganization of the system of financing the Community and of Community budgetary policy. What is the background of these proposals? How...

The following paper addresses the ongoing debate on the questions of the composition and financing of the European Union's common budget. The authors argue in favour of a significant enlargement of the budget, together with a profound reform of its composition and financing.

The fiscal framework needs in practice to achieve a balance between, on the one hand, effective budgetary rules that allow governments to commit to sound policies and, on the other, judgements and discretion in how these are applied so that the framework adequately reflects the complexity of the...