“The history of the European budget demonstrates that traditionally the European Union has measured its ambitions and strategic goals against financial possibilities and the political will to shift activities from the national level to the level of common public goods. Over decades the 1% limit for the common budget has become a taboo and Europe failed to overcome the reluctance to engage national envelopes in cross border projects, to issue joint debt, to communitize public aid or build joint safe assets. The Union has not agreed on how to direct private capital to where investment is needed. In the meantime, it has been losing international competitiveness and not succeeding in exploiting its growth potential.”- writes in CIR’s comment Prof. dr Danuta Hübner, Senior Fellow at CIR, Minister for European Affairs (2003-2004) and Member of the European Parliament (2009-2024)
