Financial perspectives into perspective: the entrepreneurship of Jacques Delors

Long-term budgets were firstly introduced by Jacques Delors in 1988 through a reform aimed at providing more stability and prosperity to the finances of the European Union. The financial perspectives, which preceded the current Multiannual Financial Frameworks, marked a new phase in European integration by setting the levels and purposes of European finances for a period of at least five years. A comparative analysis of the six European long-term budgets reveals a pattern of declining ambition of the Commission, which is traditionally explained in terms of structural constraints. This study suggests considering both agency and structure. Building on new intergovernmentalism, it proposes a novel theoretical and methodological framework for analysing the Commission’s role in European budgetary politics. When compared with the following long-term budgets, the success of the Delors packages appears less dependent on favourable contextual conditions than on the strong entrepreneurship of the Commission president. This paper traces the process leading to the adoption of the Delors I and II packages, allowing for a reassessment of the relevance of supranational preferences and a deeper understanding of the Commission’s role in EU budgetary politics.