Can reforming own resources foster policy quality?

Abstract:

The report, which has been written by Jorge Núñez Ferrer, Associate Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), it is analyses how the own resources system can be reformed to foster better decision-making in relation to policy-making in the EU.

The author argues that a combined strategy of policy reform and changes in the own resources system is necessary and the report therefore proposes to finance the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in a different way. To this end the report presents two systems as possible ways forward. The first system is a modified version of national co-financing of direct payments, while the second system focuses more on the Gross Value Added (GVA) of production. According to the author the proposed systems would break the interplay between EU policies, allow a refocusing of negotiations on the budget and mitigate the distorting effects of the net balance considerations of the Member States.