I beni pubblici europei nel bilancio dell'Unione

The debate on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-27) will be conditioned, on the one hand, by the reduction of resources caused by Brexit, which the EU will have to deal with by rationalizing expenditure, and, on the other, by the new challenges that the EU will have to face. Therefore, future negotiations will be in search of the sectors with highest European value added and that are the most policy oriented. The general objective should be to change, albeit gradually, the EU’s vision of the nature of the budget, its functions and the type of resources to be used. The public goods to be financed are infrastructures, development of human capital, research and innovation, management of migration, security and defence. To this end we suggest continuing to use financial instruments to mobilize the use of private capital and favour public-private partnerships, and – in particular – to: (a) take advantage of the complementarities between the Juncker Plan and structural funds, (b) expand the “investment clause” envisaged by the Juncker Plan with a view to introducing a golden rule, and (c) financing European public goods with real own resources.

Paper prepared in the framework of the project “Quadro finanziario pluriennale dell’Ue 2021-2027. Risorse, strumenti e possibili sviluppi”, March 2018. Presented at the conference "Quali priorità per l’Europa del futuro. Il Quadro finanziario pluriennale dell’Unione europea”, Rome, 17 April 2018.