How to spend better together

The negotiations about the EU budget after 2013 can’t ignore austerity concerns but, due to its limited size, people cannot expect major savings from applying austerity at the EU-level.

A more intelligent response to the austerity challenge is to look at ways to make savings by better coordinating EU and national-level spending or by re-organising spending tasks. To explore these potentialities for efficiency gains, Notre Europe launches a set of publications under the title 'How to spend better together', which contains both transversal and sectoral analysis.

Each sectoral publication focuses on a specific policy area and is written by an expert on this policy area, which provides a different look to the question of 'how to increase the added value of EU spending'. Some of them reject generally accepted ideas that circulate among EU budget debates. Others show us new ways to maximize the efficiency of public spending, which do not necessarily pass through changes in the EU budget. And, in general terms, they provide insightful analysis of the rationale and design of existing EU spending programs.

Notre Europe hope that these publications will stimulate the debate on how to re-organize European public spending in different policy areas, and will provide a useful contribution to the discussions on the post 2013 EU financial perspectives.

Publications

+ The 'added value' in EU budgetary debates: one concept, four meanings, Policy Brief by Eulalia Rubio, June 2011.

+ Thinking the EU budget and public spending in Europe: the need to use an aggregate approach, Policy Brief by Amélie Barbier-Gauchard, June 2011

+ Defence spending in Europe: Can we do better without spending more?, Policy paper by Fabio Liberti, June 2011

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 http://www.europeansources.info/record/multiannual-financial-framework-2014-2020/

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