The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has warned that the proposed European Competitiveness Fund in the next EU budget is too vague and could lead to problems with transparency and traceability of taxpayers’ money.
Similar concerns were previously raised by the ECA about the post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), and they remain unresolved.
On Monday (12 January), the ECA published an opinion on the next EU long-term budget – the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) – focusing on the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) and the research and innovation programme Horizon Europe.
Petri Sarvamaa, a member of the ECA, told EUobserver that the competitiveness fund proposal “definitely addresses the challenges” the EU currently faces, “but without sufficient specificity and clarity in the text, and even the level of detail that we have, we cannot know” if it will be effective.
The auditor noted that the proposal contains many vague formulations requiring clarification – one such phrase is “EU added value.”
“We don’t have a set of criteria for what ‘EU added value’ is and how it’s measured,” Sarvamaa said, adding: “The more clarity and the less ambiguity there is in that text, the greater the chance there will be for added value.”
The European Commission introduced the ECF and the proposal for Horizon Europe through several new regulations on 16 July 2025.
The ECF is a budgetary instrument to support European technologies and sectors deemed “strategically relevant” – though the ECA criticises this as being undefined and open to interpretation.
Horizon Europe is a framework programme for research and innovation.
Both are designed to bridge fundamental research and applied research, supporting the commission’s push for simplification and a more competitive Europe. The ECF proposal also includes a specific programme for defence research and innovation.
Together, the proposals account for around €409 bn – one-fifth of the total EU budget planned for 2028-2034.
Horizon Europe alone has a budget of €175 bn for this period, while the total next EU budget will be nearly €2 trillion for 2028-2034.
Echoes of RRF concerns
“We are clearly concerned about the controllability of taxpayers’ money. Traceability and transparency are key elements. You can easily see that this can lead to weaknesses in sound financial management,” Sarvamaa told EUobserver.
The auditors have repeatedly warned about such issues.
“We were very clear in the past couple of years, both in writing and as stated by our president in conjunction with our annual report last October and the year before in 2024, that when the commission is preparing proposals for the MFF, the weaknesses in the financing model that the RRF had should be taken into account,” he said.
Many already-criticised instruments in the proposed MFF remain unchanged, he added.
This opinion is the first of several statements the ECA will issue on the next long-term EU budget.
The European Parliament and Council will now negotiate the Commission’s proposal.
Member states have voiced support for the ECF, with negotiators aiming to reach a joint conclusion by the end of this year.
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