Europäischer Rechnungshof - European Court of Auditors
EU budget 2028-2034: auditors’ warnings about the new European Fund and measuring the results of EU spending
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Press release
Luxembourg, 24 February 2026
EU budget 2028-2034: auditors’ warnings about the new European Fund and measuring the results of EU spending
The EU’s financial watchdog has provided its views on the draft laws which, once passed, will govern almost half of the bloc’s proposed €2 trillion 2028-2034 budget. In two opinions issued today, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) has responded to requests from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU for its independent expert advice on the European Commission’s proposals for the new European Fund. This fund is to offer financial support for areas such as cohesion, agriculture and security through national plans, and is accompanied by a proposal for a new way of measuring performance and tracking EU spending. As these proposals fundamentally change the way EU spending is planned, managed and scrutinised, the auditors warn of multiple risks to sound financial management and call for stronger safeguards.
In 2025, the Commission put forward a total of €2 trillion for the EU’s 2028-2034 budget, the multiannual financial framework (MFF). Under the proposal, the European Fund would be the single largest component of the next MFF, accounting for nearly 44 % of total spending. It would merge funding for long-standing policies such as cohesion and agriculture with new priorities including defence, under a single national plan for each member state. In this way, it aims to provide simpler, less-fragmented EU funding and greater synergies under the various policies. In addition, the EU’s executive is proposing up to €150 billion in loans for member states, to be financed through EU borrowing. The European Fund represents a new financing and delivery model, under which payments to member states depend on their achieving milestones and targets rather than on costs being reimbursed, as at present. This model of reward for making promised investments and reforms is inspired by the EU’s COVID recovery fund (RRF), which the auditors have previously criticised.
The auditors have made several comments on the new proposal, including the following:
- The integration of different funds combines policies with different objectives, timeframes and delivery rationales, which could make it more complex, and require trade-offs between priorities. The auditors note that member states may struggle to address all EU objectives satisfactorily through their national plans, while tailoring interventions to regional and national development needs.
- While the proposal promises greater simplification, this may be mainly at Commission level, and the administrative burden on member states, regions and beneficiaries may be no lighter.
- The proposed delivery model relies on the achievement of output-based milestones and targets to trigger payments. It is therefore vital for these milestones and targets to be precisely defined, so that it is clear when they are actually achieved. There should also be sufficient safeguards to ensure that cost estimates are robust. Moreover, differences in the design, ambition and interpretation of milestones and targets between member states could jeopardise comparability and equal treatment.
- The proposed assurance framework entails accountability risks, and the Commission may not be able to provide the European Parliament and the Council with sufficient assurance that the funds have been managed soundly. The proposal reduces the Commission’s role and relies more on national control systems, where the auditors have consistently identified weaknesses in previous years. It should therefore establish effective control and audit requirements, and lead to explicit financial consequences for non-compliance with EU and national laws.
As regards measuring the performance of EU spending:
- The auditors state that while the proposed performance framework creates the conditions for improving performance reporting and the integration of EU horizontal priorities, several design weaknesses will make it difficult to assess performance. In particular, a quarter of the intervention fields lack result indicators and the proposal contains no impact indicators, thereby complicating evaluations. This means that the proposed framework risks measuring progress implementation rather than whether EU objectives have been achieved.
- There is also no clear link between funding and results, and no provision about collecting information on public expenditure for interventions supported by the EU budget. In terms of calculating EU spending on cross-cutting priorities such as the environment, the programmes’ contributions would be based on estimates rather than on actual spending, meaning that the figures may continue to be overstated.
- Lastly, the proposal lacks a clear oversight and accountability framework for ensuring that reported performance information is reliable. Against this backdrop, the information systems for transparency and performance reporting should allow full access for audit and control purposes, while ensuring traceability over time.
Background information
The Council, which will ultimately decide on the budget, and the European Parliament, which needs to give its consent, have asked for the auditors’ views before they themselves examine the Commission’s MFF proposals. In mid-January 2026, the ECA began to issue a series of opinions on these proposals. The auditors are now providing their views on the Commission’s two legislative proposals: one for the new European Fund, establishing a single set of rules in support of cohesion, agriculture and rural development, fisheries and maritime affairs, prosperity and security; and the other for the framework for tracking EU spending and measuring its performance. Both opinions are available on the ECA’s website in English; other EU languages will follow shortly.
Related links
Opinion on tracking EU spending
Contact:
ECA press office: press@eca.europa.eu
- Damijan Fišer: (+352) 621 552 224
- Vincent Bourgeais: (+352) 691 551 502