The European Union Review 

La Gestion Budgétaire de l’Union Européenne dans les Quinze à Vingt Prochaines Années

Pierre Maillet - Université de Lille I, France

Over the next ten to twenty years, the concept and scope of State budgets inside the European Union, shall be established by four essential factors. First, the degree to which economic integration is effective in the Union, in the light of currency policy standardization, endowing budget policies with a decisive, yet differing role, according to the countries involved, in order to react to various impacts affecting economies. The second factor is the importance of the subsidiarity principle which shall most likely increase under pressure by populations and shall be in conflict with a strong increase in the Community's budget. Thirdly, the intensification of interdependences between member country economies, which shall make reinforcement of the coherence in domestic budgetary policies indispensable. Fourth, the coexistence, within the currency Union, of members and non-members, to which other diversification factors may be added, by way of strengthened cooperations. All the above factors then go to increase the reality of a Europe which changes with the wind. The decisive task for budgetary management of the Union will, therefore, be the search for a compromise between respecting differences, as wanted by populations, and obtaining strong coherence, as much between domestic budgetary policies as between the latter and a Union currency policy.