EPICENTER

In BrusselsReport.eu, Marek Tatala, CEO of the Economic Freedom Foundation, endorsed Epicenter’s Alternative EU Budget proposal, arguing that a genuinely European budget should focus on cross-border priorities such as the Single Market, security, and infrastructure rather than ever-larger spending. The article supports capping the budget and applying a strict subsidiarity test, criticising the illusion that simply expanding the Multiannual Financial Framework will make Europe stronger or more competitive.

In Ilfoglio.it, economist Nicola Rossi analyses Italy’s push for greater fiscal flexibility within the EU’s economic governance framework. The article discusses the Italian government’s request for more budgetary room in the context of the ongoing Multiannual Financial Framework negotiations, warning that this comes at an inopportune moment amid rising interest rates and global macroeconomic imbalances, and stresses the need for any additional flexibility to remain strictly temporary and paired with a clear path back to fiscal discipline.

In NZZ.ch, Epicenter’s network of liberal think tanks, including Germany’s Prometheus-Institut, presented its Alternative EU Budget proposal, demonstrating how the Multiannual Financial Framework could be reduced by around €220 billion to €1.54 trillion (1% of GNI). The article criticises the Commission’s €1.763 trillion plan and new own resources, advocating deep cuts to non-core spending such as agriculture, cohesion policy, and climate funds, while prioritising the deepening of the Single Market, genuine cross-border public goods, and fiscal discipline over expanding joint debt and centralisation.

In Corriere.it, Alberto Mingardi highlighted the European Union’s record tax pressure at around 39% of GDP and criticised the European Commission’s proposal to expand the next Multiannual Financial Framework to €1.763 trillion with new own resources. The article references Epicenter’s study, which demonstrates that a leaner budget capped at 1% of GNI (approximately €1.6 trillion for 2028-2034) would be sufficient for the Union’s core functions, warning that additional European taxes and spending would further burden families and businesses without delivering genuine growth or competitiveness.

In Euractiv, Epicenter’s research fellow Christian Năsuela sharply criticised the European Commission’s record €1.8tn Multiannual Financial Framework proposal, arguing that the next EU budget should be capped at €1.54tn. The piece highlights the network’s Alternative EU Budget initiative, which calls for deep cuts to inefficient programmes, rejects new own resources that fail basic coherence tests, and urges a shift toward genuine competitiveness-enhancing priorities instead of ever-expanding spending.

In Kurzy.cz, experts from the Centre for Economic and Market Analyses (CETA), as part of the Epicenter network, warned that the European Commission’s proposed €1.7 trillion Multiannual Financial Framework normalises joint EU debt and introduces problematic new own resources such as the CORE corporate levy. The article presents the network’s Alternative EU Budget proposal, which caps the budget at 1% of GNI (approximately €1.54tn), rejects new taxes, and outlines seven key recommendations focused on subsidiarity, fiscal discipline, outcome-based spending, and strengthening competitiveness through the Single Market rather than ever-larger transfers.

In Les Echos, Cécile Philippe, President of the Institut Molinari, discussed the ongoing negotiations for the next EU Multiannual Financial Framework, referencing Epicenter network’s Alternative EU Budget proposal. The article criticises the European Commission’s plan for a significantly larger budget reaching €1.763 trillion and new own resources through additional taxes, arguing instead for a strategic repositioning of European spending focused on genuine cross-border priorities rather than ever-expanding fiscal transfers and joint debt.

In Mononews.gr, the Centre for Liberal Studies (KEFiM), as part of the Epicenter network, sounded the alarm in its latest study that 43% of pension expenditure in Greece in 2025 was still covered directly from the regular state budget rather than social security contributions. The analysis also highlights similar unfunded patterns in the EU institutions, where only 21% of staff pensions are covered by contributions and 79% come directly from the EU budget, calling for a gradual shift toward a more capital-funded model to reduce long-term pressure on taxpayers and budgets.