Financing the European Union: Options for reform

This article reviews the budget of the Union, its size, sources of revenue, areas of
expenditure and considers, first, how it may be reformed so that it can serve better the objectives of the Union and, second, how Member States can share more fairly the burden of financing it. The article argues that agricultural spending should be reduced, structural funds should be more concentrated and that any mechanism to correct budgetary imbalances should also take into account excessive surpluses as well as excessive deficits.