The national budget as the financial basis for the environmental policy in the EU countries

Abstract

Subject. The article discusses the role of the budgetary system in the EU countries in financing the environmental policy of States. We analyze the volume and structure of environmental taxes and national budgetary spending on environmental protection, and their equilibrium. Objectives. We trace modern trends in the environmental portion of the EU countries’ budgets and substantiate thresholds of budgetary revenue and expenditures with respect to the environment in the Russian Federation. Methods. The study is based on general, economic-statistical methods and methods of economic analysis of trend series. Results. Having analyzed ecotaxes and budgetary spending on environmental protection in 2010–2019, we traced the stabilizing tendency of the budgetary contribution to finance of the environmental policy in 27 EU countries in terms of income and expenditures for environmental protection, the differentiation of the above indicators across the EU countries. In the EU countries, local authorities are obviously in charge of financing environmental protection costs, maintaining the surplus of the environmental portion of national budgets. We measured the mean value of environmental taxes and national budget spending in environmental protection in 27 EU countries. Conclusions and Relevance. As the EU actively promotes sustainable development values, respective budgetary systems continue to make more or less the same contribution throughout 2010–2019, according to aggregate data of 27 EU countries. However, the contribution significantly differs as per data of certain EU countries. Assessing the adequacy and balance of the environmental portion of the Russian consolidated budget, mean values of the EU data can be used to substantiate thresholds of the indicators.