Between Continuity and Change: Responding to Crises Through European Finances

The Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 and the establishment of Next Generation EU (NGEU) have shed new light on the relevance of European finances. While NGEU may appear to be a response to the economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, it also reflects a longer trajectory of transformation of EU budgetary politics. NGEU was designed as an off-budget and temporary instrument. To understand its innovative reach of NGEU, it is necessary to broaden the scope of analysis. So far, studies of EU politics have well depicted the power struggles among budgetary actors. However, a clear conceptualization and detailed empirical account of the Commission’s role in this policy domain is still missing. This paper aims to address this gap, challenging the traditional expectation of the Commission as a budget-maximizer. Building on a new intergovernmentalist framework, this paper argues that political contestation has triggered a process of adaptation of the preferences and strategies of the Commission in the budgetary domain. Confronted by an increasingly politicized environment, the Commission has transformed into a more pragmatic and politically astute actor, repositioning itself within the EU’s institutional framework. The paper hypothesizes the emergence of a stronger link between European finances and the Commission’s political agenda, with significant implications for the European integration process. This argument is illustrated through an analysis of the MFF 2021-2027 and the NGEU, supported by empirical evidence from elite interviews with key actors involved in the budgetary process.