In some countries, the EU budget represents a significant source of resources for investment. For example, in 14 Member States, mainly among those that joined the Union after April 2004, the EU budget, as a share of total public spending, is significantly higher than 2 %, with figures ranging between 4.36 % for Slovenia and 12.22 % in Latvia.
In addition, when focusing on investment only, the contribution of the EU budget to public investment in the EU is higher: according to the Commission, for the 2015-2017 period, cohesion policy alone represented 8.5 % of government capital investment in the EU. On average, this share was estimated at 41 % in the 13 Member States that joined after April 2004. As regards investment in research and innovation, Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) was the world’s largest transnational programme devoted to such activities: in October 2021, the largest recipients since the start of the programme were Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Italy (in descending order according to the total sum beneficiaries located in those countries received from the programme).
From this perspective, the European Commission and the European Parliament stress that the EU budget is different in nature and function from national budgets, since it is mainly an investment budget with a focus on measures with European added value. The new multiannual financial framework (MFF), which defines the EU’s budgetary structure for the 2021 to 2027 period, seeks to further concentrate resources on such measures, in line with the debate that characterised the preparation of relevant proposals and brought about their adoption.
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