This article analyses the redistributive effects of the EU budget during the period 1986-98, explores the implications of the Berlin budget agreement, and advances a proposal for setting member countries' budgetary balances in a manner that is consistent with a simple equity criterion based on...

Conflict among member states regarding the distribution of net financial burdens has been allowed to contaminate the entire design of the EU budget with very negative consequences in terms of equity, efficiency and transparency. To get around this problem and pave the way for a substantive...