Evaluating the successes achieved and lessons learned from EU enlargements since 2004 in the implementation of the EU budget

This own-initiative report (INI) evaluates the successes achieved and lessons learned from EU enlargements since 2004 in the implementation of the EU budget. The amendments underline the economic convergence of these Member States, citing GDP per head in eastern Europe rising from 50 percent of the EU average in 2004 to nearly 80 percent in 2023 and unemployment falling from 13 to 4 percent. They credit the partnership principle and multi-level governance for high-quality programme design and implementation, and warn against renationalising or centralising cohesion policy. Recurring themes are that protection of the EU budget depends on administrative capacity, digital transformation, institutional stability, audit culture and absorption capacity rather than governance structure alone; that ex ante conditionalities improved governance quality; and that rule of law conditionality, fraud prevention and the independence of audit and control functions must be preserved.