EU budget for the future – the road ahead

Join us for the fourth edition of the high-level conference on the European budget. The aim of this series of events is to discuss with the stakeholders – EU institutions, governments, academics and civil society – how the EU budget should be shaped to maximise EU added value.

This year’s conference takes place at a crucial moment in time. In May, the Commission unveiled its package of proposals for the next long-term EU budget covering the period 2021-2027. The presentation of the package was followed over the summer by intensive technical deliberations by the Council and the European Parliament.

Building on a deeper understanding of the issues at stake, now is the right time to engage once again with the stakeholders and the broader public to gather feedback and to debate the strategic choices and policy decisions that shape a modern, fair and balanced EU budget for the future.

The discussions will be organised in three panels, each with a different perspective on the next long-term budget. Panel 1 will kick off the conference focusing on the new priorities of the European Union in the coming years, and on the funding necessary at the EU level to support them. Panel 2 will debate long-standing, traditional EU policies and the modernised approach to their implementation.The conference will close with a high-level political discussion on the main elements of the future long-term EU budget taking into account and looking forward to the negotiations. Finally, two expert sessions will be held during the lunch break to tackle two specific policies in more detail: the digital and the research sectors.