The past 20 years have seen a series of unsuccessful attempts to reform the EU budget. Despite a growing consensus that the budget does not correspond to the realities of the EU, it has proved extremely difficult to reach a political agreement among the member states on how to improve it. But with France, Germany and the UK having three ‘reformer’ heads of state, the political situation is now favourable for change. Filipa Figueira, research assistant at CEPS, explains why 2008 could be the year for the long-awaited overhaul of the EU-budget.