{"id":54203,"date":"2026-01-13T16:11:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T13:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/?p=54203"},"modified":"2026-01-13T16:11:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T13:11:47","slug":"i-dievrynsi-kai-o-proypologismos-tis-ee-einai-ypsilo-to-timima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/enlargement-and-the-eu-budget-is-the-price-to-pay-high-the-case-against-fiscal-alarmism\/","title":{"rendered":"Enlargement and the EU Budget: Is the price to pay high? The case against fiscal alarmism"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"the-content\"><p>The policy brief by <strong>Dr. Ioannis Armakolas<\/strong> (<em>Head, South-East Europe Programme &#8211; ELIAMEP &amp; Director, think nea \u2013 New Narratives of EU Integration<\/em>) and <strong>Ioannis Alexandris <\/strong>(<em>Research Fellow, South-East Europe Programme \u2013 ELIAMEP &amp; Researcher, think nea \u2013 New Narratives of EU Integration<\/em>), <em>\u201c<strong>Enlargement and the EU Budget: Is the price to pay high? The case against fiscal alarmism<\/strong>\u201d<\/em>, was prepared in the framework <strong>ELIAMEP\u2019s initiative<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/projects\/think-nea-new-narratives-of-eu-integration\/\"><strong>think nea \u2013 New Narratives of EU Integration<\/strong><\/a>, supported by the <strong>Open Society Foundations \u2013 Western Balkans<\/strong>.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At a time when EU enlargement is increasingly contested by Eurosceptic and radical-right forces, the policy brief examines one of the most politically sensitive aspects of the debate: the budgetary and fiscal implications of enlargement. Building on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/new-narratives-of-eu-integration-the-rise-of-radical-right-and-eurosceptic-political-forces-and-the-impact-on-the-eus-enlargement-policy-ioannis-alexandris\/\"><strong>think nea\u2019s thematic report on radical-right narratives<\/strong><\/a>, the authors analyse how fears about costs to taxpayers, agricultural subsidies, and cohesion funds are mobilised to undermine public support for further EU expansion, particularly in net-contributor Member States.<\/p>\n<p>Drawing on recent EU budget proposals for the 2028\u20132034 Multiannual Financial Framework, as well as economic modelling and lessons from previous enlargements, the brief demonstrates that the actual fiscal cost of enlargement is modest and manageable, especially when phased-in mechanisms and structural reforms are applied. At the same time, it shows that EU transfers are transformational for candidate countries, particularly in the Western Balkans, Moldova and Ukraine, supporting convergence, institutional reform and infrastructure development.<\/p>\n<p>The analysis also highlights the opportunity costs of non-enlargement, emphasising how past rounds of enlargement generated significant economic gains for existing Member States through trade, investment, labour mobility and integrated supply chains. In this light, the brief reframes enlargement not as a fiscal burden but as a strategic investment in Europe\u2019s competitiveness, resilience and long-term stability.<\/p>\n<p>The paper concludes with concrete policy recommendations on how to reframe public debate, embed enlargement within the EU\u2019s new competitiveness and strategic autonomy agenda, and counter fiscal alarmism by presenting enlargement as a win-win process that benefits both current and future Member States.<\/p>\n<p>You can read the policy brief <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Armakolas-Alexandris-budget-brief-think-nea.pdf\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>The South-East Europe Programme of ELIAMEP is a member of the IGNITA network, led by Open Society Foundations \u2013 Western Balkans.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The policy brief by Dr. Ioannis Armakolas (Head, South-East Europe Programme &#8211; ELIAMEP &amp; Director, think nea \u2013 New Narratives of EU Integration) and Ioannis Alexandris (Research Fellow, South-East Europe Programme \u2013 ELIAMEP &amp; Researcher, think nea \u2013 New Narratives of EU Integration), \u201cEnlargement and the EU Budget: Is the price to pay high? The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":54205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[492],"tags":[],"program":[23],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54207,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54203\/revisions\/54207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54203"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eliamep.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=54203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}