New Intergovernmentalism And The Integration of the Public Finance Core State Power: Evidence From The Own Resources Decisions (1988-2020)

This paper aims to focus on the integration of the public finance core state power. Specifically, it aims to test if New Intergovernmentalism advances a valid explanation of the integration process of the EU's fiscal capacity, i.e., the ability of the EU to extract revenues in the post-Maastricht period. Within the EU framework, this capacity is exercised through the Own Resources Decisions. This capacity constitutes the first phase of exercising the public finance core state power. Within this paper, the exercise of this power is conceptualised under three phases: 1) the appropriation of resources through revenues (fiscal capacity), 2) the allocation of resources (budgetary capacity), and 3) the expenditure of resources (expenditure capacity). Thus, this paper aims to test NI about the first phase of exercising the public finance core state power. New intergovernmentalism constitutes a theory that explains EU integration in the post-Maastricht era. The core of this theory is that Member States' governments pursued integration in the post-Maastricht era without further transfer of powers and competencies to the Union's supranational institutions along traditional lines. This paper aims to test this theory in the context of six Own Resources Decisions (1988, 1994, 2000, 2007, 2014, 2020). This broad scope allows this paper to map the integration process of this part of the public finance core state power over the period targeted by NI. The inclusion of the 1988 Own Resources decision allows for a reference point prior to the entry into force of the Treaty of Maastricht. In contrast, the 2020 one allows us to see if NI can explain the expansion of Own Resources to finance the establishment of the Next Generation EU (NGEU) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.