Let us not perceive the EU as an universal money box

Our Vít Havelka explores the assessment of the Czech approach to the EU as an additional source of revenue for its national budget.

• We should reassess our approach to the European Union as an additional source of revenue for our national budget. It is nonsensical to calculate whether we pay more into the EU treasury than we receive in form of subsidies.
• European finances must address Europe-wide challenges, not substitute our own national investment in infrastructure or kindergartens.

In this context, we are having a pointless debate about how many Euros we will lose in comparison to the current MFF.

Instead of counting how many Euros we received and did not manage to spend, we might start thinking about how to invest the resources we have effectively.

The development of the last 5 years showed that the current world is quickly changing and that it is full of challenges which can be solved only if all member states decide to cooperate. The sooner we realize this, the better for us all.

You can read the whole blog on EurActiv.

Vít Havelka
Senior Research Fellow

Expertise: EU institutional relations with member states, europeisation, transformation role of EU