Op-Ed: “Horizontal Conditions in the Commission’s Proposal for the Establishment of a European Fund”

Last July, the European Commission unveiled its plans for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (‘MFF’), including the creation of a European Fund. The initiative was met with controversy. Stakeholders and commentators accused the Commission of weakening regional and civil society influence over spending governance, while also reducing the envelopes for cohesion policy and the Common Agricultural Policy (‘CAP’), which would now be integrated into the same funding umbrella. Though these discussions are undoubtedly relevant, this Op-Ed focusses on an aspect of the proposal that has attracted less attention, namely: the introduction of two horizontal conditions linking the disbursal of funding to the principles of the Charter of Fundamen