Brussels' great budget illusion
Brussels has turned debt into a central governing tool — quietly piling up enormous loans with the complicit approval of member states, and largely beyond the reach of genuine democratic scrutiny.
What logic is driving the European Commission to pile up ever-larger financial commitments when it is already struggling to secure reliable funding for them?
Is the EU quietly constructing a form of hidden mutualised debt — one that permanently erodes the budgetary sovereignty of member states, without any proper democratic debate in national parliaments and without citizens, as voters in their own countries, being fully aware of what is happening?
The proposed EU budget for 2028-2034 offers a striking illustration of this growing disconnect between Brussels’ soaring ambitions and the harsh fiscal realities confronting member states. The headline number is eye-watering: the European Commission is proposing a budget of nearly €2 trillion over seven years — a 59% increase in current prices compared to the current multiannual financial framework.
A “historic budget”, claims the Commission?
Once examined closely, the reality looks far less glorious.
