Idag var jag med i paneldiskussion under ECR-gruppens studiedagar i Prag.
Min bestämda åsikt var att EU inte behöver en större budget. Tvärtom. Så här sa jag:
– Thank you, Veronica. It is a pleasure to be here in the historical city of Prag.
Before I answers your question, let me raise one own: Does the Commission need more money?
No.
It needs less money. A lot less money.
And that is entirely consistent with the Prague Declaration. We agreed here that Euorupe should focus on the things we need to do together, while respecting the sovereignty and responsibilities of our nations. That principle should apply to the EU budget as well.
We should remember that the EU-budget does not create any new money. It only redistribute tax money from the Member states. That’s often forgotten in the debate!
Does the Commission need to make better use of the money it already has? Of course.
But we should be careful with the idea that the answer is simply to spend more efficiently.
As the father of modern management, Peter Drucker, put it: There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all!
That’s the Commission’s real problem.
Before asking whether an EU programme is efficiently managed, ask whether the EU should be running that programme in the first place.
Does the Commission need clearer priorities?
I think it needs far fewer priorities.
Every euro the EU wants to spend should have to pass a simple test: does spending this money at European level achieve something that Member states cannot achieve themself?
But yes. We face common threats. Russia. Mass migration. Unfair competition from China. There is value in coordinating border control, supporting Ukraine, enforcing the single market and negotiating trade agreements together.
Those are things where acting together can give us something we cannot get by acting separatly.
The most current problems with large ambissions on EU level are twofold.
The Commission has started to borrow large amount of money and the interest rates is raising.
Secondly, the European Court of Aditours critisise how money gets less transparent and the risk of corruption increases with the volume of the budget.
So to your question, Veronica.
I think there are four way to pay new priorities:
Tax more.
Borrow more.
Spend less.
Grow the economy.
I prefer the latter two.
