Working paper

Reframing the EU budget- decision-making process

Publishing date
31 May 2009
Authors
Indhira Santos

This paper traces the history of the EU budget and draws lessons for the review to come. Whatever reforms are proposed, the authors believe that they must serve to shift spending to policy areas and instruments where the EU can best add value while at the same time recognising the political need for member states to present EU budget negotiation results in ‘net-balance‘ terms. A two-stage negotiation is proposed: first member states should negotiate and agree on what constitute EU public goods. Everything else would thereafter - by default - be deemed redistributive/compensatory spending to be financed on the basis of member states‘ current overall net balances.

About the authors

  • Indhira Santos

    Indhira Santos was Research Fellow at Bruegel in June 2007 until July 2009, when she left to join the World Bank. She holds a PhD in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University with a specialisation in economic development and public economics.

    She was born and raised in the Dominican Republic where she studied economics as an undergraduate. She was Chief Researcher at the Economic research center of PUCMM University and worked for the Ministry of Finance. She has also worked for the central Bank of Turkey.

    Indhira's research interests are development microeconomics, public economics and organisational analysis.

    She coordinated Bruegel‘s project on the EU budget.

    She is fluent in Spanish and English.

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