European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is laying out how she plans to pressure countries to implement key economic reforms if they want to access the EU’s €1.2 trillion seven-year cash pot.
The Commission’s budget officials mapped out in an informal document seen by POLITICO the increasing hoops that EU countries will have to jump through to get their cash in the next budget plan that runs from 2028 until 2034. The big idea is that Brussels will impose far more stringent conditions than in previous budgets.
Some 530 programs currently in place for each EU country will be lumped into a single national cash pot, which will determine spending in sectors ranging from farm subsidies to social housing, according to the text.
The document states that countries will have to address the gender gap to receive money for social housing or promote organic farming to access agricultural funding ― a move that is likely to stir dissent among farmers who rely on EU subsidies.
With a flagging economy and war raging on its doorstep, the EU executive is under immense pressure to steer its investment away from unproductive subsidies — automatically doled out to traditional sectors such as agriculture — and toward new priorities such as defense and building pan-European industrial champions.
https://www.politico.eu/article/european-commission-budget-economic-reforms-conditions-power-grab