Once every seven years, a uniquely European courtship ritual takes place. Member States iron out the details of the bloc’s seven-year, long-term EU budget, outlining how much to spend on everything from railroads to farming and space exploration.
Typically the waltz includes infighting between the ‘frugal’ northern states who argue against a perceived transfer of wealth to ‘profligate’ members in central and eastern Europe. The debate is a zero-sum game focused solely on the size of the pot.
But now more than ever, the debate about the future budget must set aside squabbles over size and instead ensure quality spending in line with the principles of the European Green Deal. As a start, EU leaders should ban fossil fuels from the regional development and cohesion funds, two parts of the EU budget meant to close the gap between richer and poorer parts of Europe.
