By Jan Strupczewski

BRUSSELS, (Reuters) – The European Union, just like the national governments, should have a budget that it can use to stabilize its economy if necessary, a survey by the European Commission of think-tanks, academics, and others has shown.

The EU’s 27 member nations currently have a budget which focuses on equalizing living standards. There are also common spending policies that use figures set after careful debate every seven years.

A Commission report that covered the consultation was released Monday stated: “A majority respondent support the establishment a central EU financial capacity, in particular to macroeconomic stabilisation.”

Economists have argued for the idea as a way to counterbalance the European Central Bank’s single monetary policy. However, the EU has not supported the idea in the past.

Because it would involve more sovereignity being transferred to the EU and tighter fiscal co-operation, and most likely regular EU borrowing as well as new EU revenue streams, member states have so far resisted any change.

According to the Commission, these new views were formed after it published an online consultation last year asking for feedback on EU’s fiscal framework.

According to the survey, over one fifth of all 225 valid answers came from individuals. A fifth of the responses came from academic institutions and a fifth were from trade unions. The data revealed that think tanks, non-governmental organisations and independent fiscal institutions were all major contributors.

The Commission stated that respondents want more support for economic growth and social issues, as well as a sustainable public debt.

People and organizations stated that “green” investments should be given special attention due to climate change. A large majority of them also called for greater national ownership and simplification of rules.

This consultation isn’t binding. This consultation is part of the ongoing debate about changes to EU’s fiscal rules.

According to the Commission, most views were from Italy with Belgium coming in second and France and Germany following close behind.

The Commission must present by June its recommendations on modifications to existing rules. These regulations limit government borrowing in order to protect the euro’s value.

In unprecedented cooperation, 800 billion Euros was borrowed by the EU to rebuild the EU’s economy in the wake of the pandemic. The funds were used to fund digitalisation and investment which would reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The joint debt, however, was marked clearly as an illegible one-off. This was in addition to the regular budget of 1.1 trillion euros for each country for the next seven year, which is financed by contributions from the government and income tax already allocated to the EU.