Study on the EU Budget and its Conditionalities

The EU budget imposes a considerable number of conditionalities on the Member States in use of the EU budget, and more are being imposed in the next Multiannual Financial Framework. This study reviews the effectiveness of the conditionalities imposed on the Member States and beneficiaries. Overall, the conditionalities have been successful, but this study finds that some are excessively burdensome, and it proposes some reforms. On macroeconomic conditionalities and the rule of law, the paper cautions on their use, particularly when the citizen is penalised rather than the administration or government.