European Court of Auditors publishes overview of its opinions on the next MFF

Over the past few months, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) has published a dozen opinions on the new ways of financing EU policies and programmes from 2028 to 2034 as proposed by the European Commission. In these opinions, the auditors give their views on a wide range of areas of EU action, ranging from competitiveness, research and culture, to cohesion, agriculture, and international support. In this context, the ECA has issued several warnings to EU policymakers – the European Parliament and the Council of the EU – as they embark on negotiating the outcome of these proposals. Some of them, for example, fundamentally change the way EU spending is planned, managed and scrutinised. In such cases, the ECA warns of risks to sound financial management, and calls for stronger safeguards.

The ECA regards the Commission's proposals on the next MFF as a major overhaul of the EU budget, with significant changes to the MFF architecture, as it reorganises the current framework from seven to four main headings and cuts the number of programmes from 52 to 16.

The ECA stresses that each of its opinions on the next MFF should be read in its own right, as it concerns a specific proposal. However, the opinions do share some common features. Each one assesses whether the concept of EU added value (i.e. the idea that EU-level intervention generates benefits beyond what member states could achieve acting individually) is clearly defined and consistently applied across programmes and funding instruments, whether spending objectives align with EU priorities, and the ways the EU budget is financed and how flexible it is. The opinions also discuss simplification, the tracking of funds, and ensuring that EU spending is transparent and accountable.

For more information:

ECA - press release

Overview of the main messages from the ECA opinions

A full list of ECA opinions on the proposed 2028-2034 EU budget, with links to the press releases and complete documents in 24 EU languages, is available in a specific section on the ECA’s website.