Während der jüngsten Verhandlungen über die Festlegung des EU-Haushalts 2007-2013 verwiesen viele Regierungen häufig auf die Vorstellung der ‚gerechten Rückerstattung‘. Damit vertraten sie die Auffassung, dass ihr Beitrag zum EU-Haushalt proportional zu der Höhe der EU-Gelder sein sollte, die sie erhalten. In dieser Studie, die von Notre Europe veröffentlicht wurde, bezeichnet Jacques Le Cacheux dieses Konzept als sowohl irreführend als auch gefährlich. Er zeigt, dass ihm eine ‚fragwürdige buchhalterische Einstellung‘ zugrunde liegt sowie auch eine falsche Vorstellung des europäischen Integrationsprozesses als ein ‚Nullsummenspiel‘.
Summary:
The „net national balances“ on which European governments base their stance in the financial negotiations on the forthcoming medium-term European budget are the product of a questionable accounting approach to the economic and financial relationships between member states of a Single Market pursuing common policies. Initially funded through “own resources”, the European budget has become increasingly dependent on national contributions, which, for the past twenty years, has led to demands for “fair returns”. Yet the recent and past history of federations and other groupings of individual states offers numerous examples of the dangers of this kind of “accounting logic”. The conventions which determine this type of calculation are fairly arbitrary, while even minor changes to allocation criteria cause significant variations in these balances. But more fundamentally, it is the underlying economic reasoning behind these estimates that is at fault: levies and, to an even greater extent, expenditure have repercussions on member state economies. As a result, a geographical cost-benefit analysis of Community policies in an economic and monetary union does not show what the net balances alone would appear to indicate. The pitfalls of budgetary negotiations dominated by opportunistic strategies and national self-interest can be avoided by taking note of what happens in existing single or federal state systems and by dissociating spending decisions from financing decisions.
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