How is the European budget financed, how is it spent, and what distributive and political conflicts arise from these choices? With recent developments such as the European Green Deal and the Next Generation EU (NGEU) recovery instrument, can Europe still be adequately described as a regulatory state, or are we witnessing the return of older and/or the emergence of newer forms of public economic activism? If, as some argue, planning is back, who makes the decisions and how? Given recent shifts in EU politics, where are these choices heading?
Taking European political economy as its perspective, this course examines the historical development, institutional functioning, and contemporary challenges of the EU’s fiscal and social policies, including their budgetary dimension. Students will explore how EU-level economic and fiscal governance constraint national social and budgetary choices, and how the EU’s own budget is financed, allocated, and contested in a political context marked by successive crises. The course combines an examination of the technical aspects of EU governance and direct spending with an analysis of the broader political and distributive implications of these choices, including questions of democratic legitimacy and rising inequalities.
The course covers established policies, such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and social and territorial cohesion policy delivered through the European Structural and Investment Funds. It also addresses recent developments, including debates about a nascent ‘European investor state’, the latest reform of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), and the negociations surrounding the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). These topics are tied together by the overarching question of whether the EU is moving beyond a primarily regulatory role towards renewed economic activism, and, if so, to what political ends.- Teacher: Evrard Zoé