Counting EU Money: Simple Rules to Make Spending Transparent

EU Parliament Resolution – 22 January 2026

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on how the EU should measure and control the use of money that is meant to boost future competitiveness. The main points are:

1. Purpose of the resolution
   • The EU must spend money in a way that is economical, efficient and effective.
   • To do this, the Parliament wants clear, reliable performance indicators that show whether the money actually achieves its goals.

2. Key background documents
   • The Draghi report (2024) says the EU needs an extra €750‑800 billion a year (4.4‑4.7 % of EU GDP) from 2025‑2030 to close the investment gap.
   • The Letta report (2024) and the 2025/2034 multi‑annual financial framework (MFF) set the overall budget rules.
   • The European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) will be part of the 2028‑2034 MFF.

3. What the resolution says about performance indicators
   • Types of indicators –
   – Input (money, staff, equipment)
   – Output (what is produced, e.g., number of projects)
   – Result (direct effects, e.g., jobs created)
   – Impact (long‑term changes, e.g., higher exports).
   • Indicators must be RACER: relevant, accepted, credible, easy to use, and robust.
   • They should be available in an open, machine‑readable format and, where possible, broken down by gender and aggregated across programmes.
   • The resolution calls for a single, harmonised set of core indicators for all EU programmes, replacing the current 5 000+ heterogeneous indicators used in the 2021‑2027 MFF and the 7 000 milestones of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

4. Simplification and transparency
   • The current system is too complex and creates a heavy reporting burden, especially for small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs) and local authorities.
   • The Parliament wants a “once‑only” principle: data should be collected once and reused for all reports.
   • All indicator data and methods must be publicly available in real time, with clear links to the final beneficiaries of the funding.

5. Data quality and audit
   • The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has repeatedly found that many indicators lack reliable baseline data and clear definitions.
   • The resolution demands that all data be traceable down to the contract and beneficiary level, and that any suspected fraud be reported to the European Anti‑Fraud Office and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
   • Independent verification by national audit bodies and the ECA is required, and the results must be shared with Parliament.

6. Rule of law and competitiveness
   • The resolution stresses that a strong rule of law is essential for investor confidence.
   • It proposes adding indicators on the functioning of the justice system, anti‑corruption measures, and checks and balances.

7. Specific competitiveness indicators
   • Innovation – number of EU‑funded projects, patents, start‑ups, and the share of women‑led start‑ups.
   • Industrial relocation – number of SMEs moving to the EU, jobs created, and share of critical raw materials sourced locally.
   • Energy – joint industrial energy purchases, renewable share, and reduction in energy prices.
   • Skills – people trained in STEM, employment rates, and wage growth.
   • Regulatory burden – time from application to disbursement, number of appeals, and reduction in administrative costs for SMEs.

8. Risk assessment and impact modelling
   • The Parliament calls for a robust risk assessment framework for high‑risk, high‑reward projects.
   • It encourages the use of macro‑economic models that capture household and firm heterogeneity to better estimate the impact of EU spending.

9. Next steps
   • The resolution instructs the Parliament’s President to send it to the Council and the Commission for further action.

In short, the EU Parliament wants a simpler, clearer, and more trustworthy system for measuring how EU money is spent to make Europe more competitive, while ensuring that the data is reliable, transparent, and linked to real outcomes.