Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
1.00
0.90
0.80
0.70
Euratom
ECSC
EDF
Other
Pre-accession
Administration
External Action
Research
Structural Funds
EAGGF Guarantee
0.60
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00
1958 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006
FIGURE 4.2. Relative Composition of EU Expenditure, 1958-2001 (percent) (
Source:
Author's elaboration on the basis of European Commission (2007: 53-57))
this topic's concerns, interpersonal redistribution is barely existent at the EU
level. Scores around 1-1.5 indicate both that the commission has hardly any
influence in these policy realms vis-`a-vis the member states and that even in
those few instances in which the EU has initiated a social agenda of its own
(to be discussed later in more detail), member states retain veto power. The
decentralized nature of interpersonal redistribution within the EU is even more
striking when one considers the size of the federal government relative to
the size of the economy. Whereas the EU budget accounts for about 1%of
GDP of the EU economy in 2004, the general government expenditure of the
federal government in the United States that same year accounted for 35.7%
of America's GDP (Hix
2005
: 272). Indeed, the size of the EU government
relative to the size of the European economy is much smaller than the size of
any federal government of any federation in the world relative to the size of
their respective economy.
Figure 4.1
conveys a third point, one that partially vindicates the logic of
compensation discussed above. The analysis of interpersonal redistribution
within the union constitutes just one aspect of the fiscal structure of the EU. A
number of programs devoted to social and economic cohesion across territories
have developed alongside market integration. Indeed, the lion's share of the EU
budget goes to redistribution of resources between countries.
Redistribution in the EU is both limited and between countries (regions) as
opposed to between individuals.
Figure 4.2
delves deeper into this point by
graphically depicting the relative composition of EU expenditure during 1958-
2006. Of all the budgetary components captured by
Figure 4.2
, two stand
out: the Common Agricultural Policy expenditures (EAGG Guarantee) and
the Structural Funds. Both these programs constitute elements of interregional
