Managing Diversity for a Growing Europe : A Romanian View on the EU Budgetary Review Process

Facing major external and internal challenges (climate change, redistribution of power in the world economy, increased EU complexity following the Eastern enlargement etc), the European Union needs to overhaul its budget, observing some basic principles such as: solidarity, interdependence of policies, necessity to redesign the national budgets as well, all under the legal framework of the Lisbon Treaty. There is still considerable scope for improving the implementation of the Cohesion Policy, as one of the most important EU policies with tools designed to manage the EU's socio-economic complexity. The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy has to be undertaken in view of the effects of global warming and the need to secure adequate food supply inside the EU and around the world. The implementation of the eventual reform of the budget should be carried out gradually in order to avoid the emergence of disequilibria. For better management and accountability, the Financial Perspective span should be reduced to 5 years, similar to the mandate of the European Parliament and the Commission. Increased flexibility of the Financial Perspective needs to be considered for better answering to unforeseen situations. In the long term the EU budget should be increased and new resources should be added to the existing ones