As many Member States encounter difficulties consolidating their budgets and one of the net payers is about to leave the Union, the question of the future financing of the European Union is becoming more and more prominent.

"Because of the lack of own resources, the European budget is condemned to funding the priorities of yesterday to the detriment of the needs of today and tomorrow", declared Alain Lamassoure MEP on the occasion of the Inter-institutional Conference on the future financing of the European Union, which is taking place in the European Parliament until Thursday.

This event, initiated by the High Level Group on own resources, is an opportunity for MEPs and MPs, as well as representatives of the European Institutions, to reflect on a new system of own resources for a budget more equitable, transparent and understandable for European citizens. Participants will thus discuss the role of the EU budget, the advantages and shortcomings of existing instruments or ways to strengthen coherence between national and European budgets.

Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, and Mario Monti, Chairman of the High Level Group on Own Resources, are among the guest speakers.

"We must assure taxpayers that each Euro spent at European level will save more at national level which will result in greater efficiency: this is the budgetary translation of the subsidiarity principle", concluded Lamassoure, EPP Group representative in the High Level Group on Own Resources.