Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – A Budget for Europe 2020

In preparing its proposals for the future budget of the European Union, the Commission has faced the challenge of being able to fund the growing number of policy areas where the EU can be more effective by acting through the EU level in the current climate of national austerity and fiscal consolidation. This has led it to propose a budget with a strong pan-European logic, designed to drive the Europe 2020 growth strategy.

This proposal is innovative in terms of the quality of its spending proposals and also in terms of how the EU budget should be funded in future, potentially easing the direct impact on national budgets and making it a truly European budget.

In drawing up this proposal, the Commission has examined the impact of current spending instruments and programmes, has consulted widely with stakeholders and has analysed options for the design of instruments and programmes under the next multiannual financial framework( MFF).

EUR-Lex: COM(2011)500: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2011:500:FIN

European Commission: COM(2011)403: Draft Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0403:FIN:EN:PDF

European Commission: COM(2011)398: Proposal for a Council Regulation laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-2020 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0398:FIN:EN:PDF

European Commission: SEC(2011)867: The added value of the EU budget http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SEC:2011:0867:FIN:EN:PDF

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