Consolidating Commission Executive Power Through the European Competitiveness Fund?

What does the Multiannual Financial Framework proposal reveal about the Commission’s ambition for the future of the interinstitutional dynamics at the Union level? Recently, the EU budget has become an increasingly political and politicised instrument, as the Union’s spending power now appears as the main means through which it may pursue political objectives. In this context, understanding who holds the purse strings is a particularly sensitive question. Building on the literature addressing the rise of the executive, and especially the Commission, in EU economic governance, this article demonstrates that the proposal for a European Competitiveness Fund follows this trend and even reinforces it. The reliance on delegated and implementing acts, combined with the procedures envisaged for their adoption, places the Commission in a central position within a formally compliant institutional balance, yet subject to weak legal constraints and limited accountability mechanisms. The article concludes with policy recommendations to strengthen accountability in the allocation of EU funding.