Governance &Tools

EU Budget

In 2010 the European Commission managed a budget of around 141 billion euros.

Most of this money went to implementation of the Common Agriculture Policy + Rural Development (41%), EU’s Cohesion Policy (35%) and Research (5,3%). A new element was €2 billion for energy projects in order to assist in EU’s economic recovery. Only €300 million, or 0.2% was earmarked for environmental issues.

EU funding has certainly helped farmers to survive and has brought prosperity to poorer regions. But it has also caused major damage to the environment: think of EU sponsored highways and large hydrodams; tourist developments in sensitive areas; and subsidies to farmers that stimulate intensive forms of farming.

Large parts of the EU budget still goes to the development of nuclear fusion for electricity production and other questionable research.