Romy Hansum

​​⏪ 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝗙𝗦…
🇪🇺🇩🇪 @romyha.bsky.social investigated the 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 in the German Baden-Württemberg.
What are the reasons behind organisations’ 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝗨 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀?

🔓Read the #openaccess article here 👉 doi.org/10.1080/1359...

#EU #cohesion #policy

Europe cannot afford to treat its values as expendable. Each concession to the far right corrodes democracy at home and erodes its credibility abroad. By reducing principles to luxuries, Europe risks losing not just its dignity but political agency.

New op-ed with @onethuthree.bsky.social

If true, we might as well bury the concept of rule of law conditionality. The EU cannot keep letting itself be blackmailed by Orbán into unfreezing funds withheld over rule of law violations in exchange for lifting his veto, unless it truly wants to lose all credibility as a guardian of EU values

Ein ganz besonderes EU to go-Frühstück heute Morgen bei @delorsberlin.bsky.social: das erste EU to go unserer Policy Fellow @romyha.bsky.social - und zugleich das letzte unseres Direktors @lindnerjs.bsky.social. Zusammen mit @nilsredeker.bsky.social geht’s bei 🥐 und ☕️ um den EU-Haushalt

🗓️ Diesen Freitag laden wir euch zum ersten #EU to go-Frühstück nach der Sommerpause ein! In nur 30 Minuten erklären euch @lindnerjs.bsky.social, @nilsredeker.bsky.social & @romyha.bsky.social was Europas Haushalt jetzt leisten muss. Weitere Infos und Anmeldung 👉 www.delorscentre.eu/de/veranstal...

EU to go. Reif für Reformen Bevor der Arbeitstag beginnt, gibt es wieder einen komprimierten Input zu einem aktuellen EU-Thema. Starten Sie mit uns, frischen Croissants und Kaffee in den Tag. Nur in Präsenz, die Plätze sind begr...

Jetzt anmelden für unser nächstes EU to go am 19.9. zu "Reif für Reformen - Was muss Europas Haushalt jetzt leisten?"

Mit @lindnerjs.bsky.social, @nilsredeker.bsky.social und @romyha.bsky.social.

www.delorscentre.eu/de/veranstal...

Handelszugeständnisse der EU mögen nötig gewesen sein, um ein Abkommen mit den USA abzuschließen. Diese Herangehensweise aber auf die Digitalregulierung zu erweitern, wäre etwas völlig anderes: Es würde eine Einschränkung des Souveränitätsrechts der EU bedeuten, ihre eigenen Regeln festzulegen.

Policies tend to reinforce themselves: institutions and beneficiaries adapt to the status quo, learn and invest accordingly. This makes change harder over time, especially in distributive policies with visible, direct benefits. But this remains for now an informed hunch of the underlying mechanisms.

Link to publication: 👇
doi.org/10.1177/1465...

Now that the Commission is proposing a performance-based but also more flexible Cohesion Policy 2028–2034, the question arises as to whether this will lead to better alignment with EU objectives or simply open up more discretion for rigid national spending patterns. To be discussed and analysed!

Abstract of the research article presented in the post.

Publication news: My third PhD article is out in European Union Politics. 🎓

In a quantitative analysis of the EU's Cohesion Policy funds, I find an intriguing pattern: national allocations across spending priorities have been remarkably rigid over time, despite changing EU and national priorities.

„Die EU hat zu wenig Mittel für die Industriepolitik“ Ohne mehr Geld kann die EU ihre Industrieziele bei sauberen Technologien nicht erreichen, warnt Nils Redeker. Der Ökonom argumentiert für einen deutlich größeren EU-Haushalt – und verweist im Intervie...

Mit @sinanrecber.bsky.social vom @tspbackground.bsky.social habe ich ein längeres Gespräch zu den Baustellen des EU-Haushalts, den neuen Vorschlag der EU-Kommission und die wichtigsten Leitplanken für den kommenden Verhandlungsmarathon geführt.

background.tagesspiegel.de/energie-und-...

Ripe for Reform – What’s in the EU Budget Proposal and What Should Come Next On 16 July 2025, the European Commission unveiled its proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-35, kicking off what promises to be a highly fraught and marathon set of nego...

The initial fuss over the COM’s MFF proposal has been digested - but the bargaining is only just beginning. In a new policy brief, @nilsredeker.bsky.social, @eulaliarubio.bsky.social, @lindnerjs.bsky.social and I take a closer look at the figures and the direction the negotiations should now take.

Ripe for Reform – What’s in the EU Budget Proposal and What Should Come Next On 16 July 2025, the European Commission unveiled its proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-35, kicking off what promises to be a highly fraught and marathon set of nego...

Just a few weeks to go before the EU dives into what will likely be a bruising battle over its next budget.

@romyha.bsky.social, @eulaliarubio.bsky.social, @lindnerjs.bsky.social l and I took a closer look at the Commission’s proposal.

We think successful negotiations now hinge on four things:

No one’s holding their breath for big announcements from today’s EU–China summit.

But FDI remains one area where pragmatic cooperation is still possible and, under the right conditions, can strengthen EU industry.

In today’s Euractiv op-ed, I outline what it takes to make that happen.

What does the new Commission budget proposal say on funding for democracy?

It increases the funds allocated to defending democracy, rule of law and other Union values from ~1,55bn € (not adjusted for inflation) in the last MFF to 3,18bn € (in 2025 prices).

Let me conclude: There are important reshuffles in this budget that align it better with current EU priorities and challenges - the detailed envelopes such as for decarbonisation and for less developed regions (and how about the JTF ones?) could do with some fine-tuning.

Also, one shortcoming of MFF comparisons becomes very obvious: they neglect the generous NGEU funding. So de facto, the increases of the current MFF are much less impressive considering that countries and beneficiaries had access to these additional funds in the last years.

The ringfenced social investment 28-34 is roughly comparable (+2%) with ESF+ and JTF in 21-26, but less developed regions receive 9% less than before. Within Heading 1, the relatively largest profiteer is clearly the topic of Migration & Security.

Cohesion and agriculture face some reductions. And whereas the ringfenced income support for farmers is cut by 10%, all other cohesion funding goes down by more than 20%. And this could even be more drastic, if farmers manage to captivate a higher share of the National and Regional P. Plans.

The praised shift towards competitiveness becomes very clear when considering the new Heading 2. Zooming in, a lot of the change derives from the increases of Horizon Europe and the ECF‘s Defence & Space window. NB: the targeting of the green transition doesn‘t exactly jump out.

The budget numbers proposed by the EU COM are finally out - but their interpretation is far from unequivocal. Let me give you some comparisons in 2025 prices which is more informative in terms of actual buying power:

We ran some initial estimates on what today’s EU budget proposal could mean.

The numbers aren’t official yet, so details might still change - but the overall picture looks a lot more positive than I expected.

Three quick takeaways:

4/ For now, it looks like the EU Commission really delivered on its Competitiveness agenda - laying down an important marker for the budget negotiations.

These increases are not completely covered by the overall larger budge size. Indeed, cuts are faced by the cohesion and rural development envelope (-15%) and the farmers‘ direct income support (-10%) - a political choice that will definitely create some tension.

2/ Looking at some provisional (still not official) numbers, this shift towards competitiveness is rather bold. The new European Competitiveness Fund triples its preceding programs, Horizon increases by 75% and Defence and Space by 50%.

1/ The EU Commission proposes a budget 2028-2034 that is around €580bn higher than its precursor. The increase is a bit less enormous considering that NGEU repayments will already consume €168bn. However, there is still quite some additional spending in there, mainly going to the new Pillar II:

(5) Small caveat: the numbers are a very first impression, we all still wait for the actual legal proposal…

(4) For now, it really looks like the EU Commission delivered on its Competitiveness agenda, laying down an important marker in the budget negotiations.

These increases are not completely covered by the overall larger budget size. Indeed, cuts are faced by the cohesion and rural development envelope (-15%) and the farmers‘ direct income support (-10%) - a political choice that will definitely create some tension.