“A new budget for the European Union?” – the authors respond

The debate launched by Notre Europe on its website concerning our contribution to the discussion on EU budget reform (CEPS Policy Brief No. 159, May 2009, ‘A Budget for the European Union?’) has elicited a variety of responses (Begg, Le Cacheux, Pietras, Santos, Zuleeg and Notre Europe itself). As the debate continues, we believe it would be useful at this stage to provide some clarification in order to clarify our position and dispel any possible misunderstandings.