Budgetary Pressures in the EEC: A Fiscal Federalism Perspective
从财政联邦主义视角分析欧共体预算困境，聚焦农业补贴与结构基金支出，以及英国贡献与回扣争议，指出预算控制对欧洲一体化进程至关重要。
As is widely known, the EEC has gone through some troubling budgetary difficulties in recent years. Disputes have revolved around the growth of agricultural subsidies and about the contributions to be made to the EEC by various member countries; in particular, the U.K. These problems have been brought under control for the short run. However, the implementation of the Single European Act could be greatly complicated, and might falter, if policymakers again became intensely involved in acrimonious budgetary disputes. Maintaining budgetary control for the next several years, and for that matter in the longer term as well, is thus a matter of considerable tactical importance within the context of the overall progress of European economic affairs. In view of the fact that the threat of acute budgetary crisis has receded somewhat, and in view of the prospect of a significant step forward toward more complete economic integration associated with the 1992 initiative, it seems appropriate to give some thought to the budgetary problems that the EEC is likely to confront in the medium term. At a time of enormous political change in Eastern Europe, it is exceptionally hazardous to attempt projections about economic affairs in the EEC. It is easy to visualize scenarios in which significant amounts of resources, whether from the EEC itself or from individual member states, are directed toward promoting economic and other reform in the East, forcing new choices with respect to the commitment of resources by member countries to the EEC. However, to limit the scope of this paper, attention is restricted to developments within the EEC itself. The major trends in the EEC budget are easily delineated, since only a few main initiatives account for the bulk of EEC expenditures. First, agricultural subsidies through the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) have entailed large expenditures. Through the 1980s, these outlays accounted for about two-thirds of EEC expenditures. Another major category of EEC expenditures are for the so-called funds, in particular the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF). The ERDF funds economic development projects in specially targeted low-income regions. The ESF funds programs that promote the training and employment of workers, especially youth and long-term unemployed persons. These and related expenditures have accounted for about 10-15 percent of expenditures during the 1980s. Altogether, then, agricultural and structural expenditures account for about 85 percent of the total budget. The U.K. has repeatedly protested against what it regards as excessive contributions to the EEC relative to the return that it gets in the form of structural fund outlays, and it has garnered a partial rebate of its contributions to the EEC, equal to two-thirds of the difference between the U.K. VAT contribution and EEC expenditures allocable to the U.K. These rebates account for roughly 5 percent of the EEC budget. As a result of decisions taken in 1988, the outline of the EEC budget for the next sevtDiscussants: Paul Courant, University of Michigan; Rudolph Penner, The Urban Institute; John Yinger, Syracuse University.