Appendix

Assessment Criteria

For the normative evaluation of the current system of own resources as well as discussed proposals for the reform of the system, the literature offers a wide range of assessment criteria. Some attempts have been made so far to offer a comprehensive set of criteria, for example, European Commission (1998; 2004a), Caesar (1990), Cattoir (2004), Begg and Grimwade (1998), Walthes (1996), Henke (1997) and Heinemann (2003).

Apart from these often resembling sets of criteria, we have developed our own view as summarised in chapter 2. This is necessary as many of the existing approaches share the weakness that the choice of these criteria seems to be biased according to the author’s view, either in favour of or against giving more financial autonomy to the EU, for example, by introducing an EU tax. Another weak point of many sets of criteria is their rather ad hoc construction due to a lacking link to economic theory.