Linking national spending on the environment with the effects it has on the environmental performance of EU Member States allows for a better assessment of the effective quality of budgetary interventions. In this analysis, based on the detailed research paper in the Annex, we discuss under what circumstances some public environmental expenditure could be spent more efficiently at EU rather than at national level. We estimate that this transfer towards a more efficient level of governance would allow Member States to save between €20 billion and €26 billion of budgetary spending per year. In the present exacerbated economic, social and environmental crisis, we conclude that reducing budgetary waste and improving the way public money is spent should be fully integrated to achieve more sustainable development.Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP