What should Europe pay for

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Bruegel’s Rebecca Christie, Zsolt Darvas and Jacob Funk Kirkegaard discuss the European Commission’s budget plan and the battle for the next multiannual financial framework. Will the budget be enough to cover the EU’s needs? What is an “own resource” and how do the member states contribute? Can the EU overhaul the way it supports agriculture, and does it make sense to merge support for farmers with support for lower-income countries? And how will Europe find the money to help Ukraine and finance its own defence and security needs? As the financing debate heats up, Europe will need to decide what public goods it values enough to invest in.

Relevant research:

• Darvas, Z., R. Dom, M.S. Lappe, P. Saint-Amans and A. Steinbach (2025) 'Bigger, better funded and focused on public goods: how to revamp the European Union budget', Blueprint 37, Bruegel, available at https://www.bruegel.org/book/bigger-better-funded-and-focused-public-goods-how-revamp-european-union-budget
• Sapir, A., J. F. Kirkegaard and J. Zettelmeyer (2025) 'Geopolitical shifts and their economic impacts on Europe: Short-term risks, medium-term scenarios and policy choices', Report 1/2025, Bruegel