Having state governments at
the front in putting together a federal budget is problematic for several
reasons. Those governments can easily form ideologically clashing groups that result
in stalemate at the expense of the federal level. That states have a built-in
political interest in safeguarding their own turf means not only that they
would tend in a positive sense to ward off too much federal encroachment at the
expense of the states and federal-state balance necessary for the check-and-balance
function of federalism, but also that the states could exploit a structural conflict
of interest to deny the federal governmental institutions adequate sovereignty and
money to act effectively in the common or general interest as represented by
the union rather than any one state or subset of states. The lack of progression
of negotiations in the Council of Ministers in 2026 on the upcoming seven-year
federal budget demonstrate that perhaps the European Parliament rather than the
Council of Ministers should come up with the budget and sent to the European
Council for passage.
The full essay is at "On E.U. States Negotiating the E.U. Budget."
