A budget for reform
FINANCE is always the toughest part of any EU negotiation, and the next wave of enlargement will be no exception. The commission's Agenda 2000 package includes proposals for a new seven-year financial framework, running up to 2006. It wisely proposes to keep spending within the present ceiling of 1.27% of the Union's GDP—even if, as it hopes, six new members arrive in 2002. But such relative frugality will not be feasible without some radical reforms to the way the EU works.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “A budget for reform”
From the July 19th 1997 edition
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