Търсене

Background document for the Budgetary Control and Budgets committees' joint hearing on "Control challenges in the EU's own resources system" held on 5 May 2015. This briefing defines and presents the EU budget financing system and highlights discrepancies between Member States. It then discusses key-issues on the GNI-based own resource and the VAT-based own resource.

The 'own resources' system, which ensures the financing of EU policies, has advantages such as reliability in providing the necessary resources, but has also attracted a number of criticisms, not least for its complexity and lack of real financial autonomy. The European Parliament (EP), which has little say in the design of the system, has long pushed for its reform. The aim is not to increase the size of the EU budget, but to focus it on issues of European common interest and to tap its full economic ...

The system of "own resources" ensures the financing of the EU's policies. Total revenues amounted to €130 billion in 2011. Successive reforms have determined its current configuration, which relies on three key streams of revenue: traditional own resources (mainly customs duties); a resource based on value added tax (VAT); and a resource related to gross national income (GNI). At present, the system provides sufficient resources to cover planned expenditure, but is often criticised for its complexity ...