European Union (EU) responses to recent economic crises have been markedly different from what we saw during the financial crises of 2008. The NextGenerationEU (NGEU) programme, for example, was a groundbreaking financial instrument that mobilised nearly €800 billion in joint borrowing to provide grants and loans to help member states recover from the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, the REPowerEU programme was designed to help member states endure the hardships and global energy market disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
While these crises evoked solidarity rather than austerity, the actions nevertheless raise important constitutional questions about the evolution of the EU budget. Dr Rosalba Famà pursued these questions in her dissertation The constitutional implications of the paradigm shift in the European budgetary galaxy after Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine, defended in January 2025 at Bocconi University.
"I was fascinated by how the EU’s financial response to COVID-19 diverged so sharply from that of the 2008 financial crisis," Famà explains. "Instead of austerity, we saw a shift towards solidarity. I wanted to know what had changed in the budget and in the interpretation of its rules, given that in the past, such a solution would have been considered legally impossible.”
Famà's research investigates the constitutional implications of this “financial experiment”. NGEU marked the first time in the EU’s history that the European Commission borrowed on the capital markets at such scale to issue grants and loans to member states. This action, she argues, has transformed the role of the EU budget in profound ways and could serve as a blueprint for future collective action—though not without legal and political complexity.
“It does pose problems in terms of transparency and democratic accountability,” she points out. “It was, and can be improved.”
"The Draghi Report suggested future prosperity depends on EU-level investments in key sectors such as the green and digital transitions and defence,” she continued. “It explicitly mentions the replication of the NextGeneration EUmodel. However, there are legal aspects that deserve further scrutiny, as one of the elements of this programme was its one-off nature.”
While legal scholars have not focused greatly on this topic, Rosalba finds the relationship between budgetary rules and constitutionalism significant from an academic point of view.
"Finance is a sector around which many constitutions have evolved—just think of the US," she explains. "Studying the EU through its budget tells us a lot about its evolution, level of integration, achievements and priorities.”
Rosalba also hopes the research, combined with her legal expertise, will help her to develop policy proposals about the financial management of borrowed funds, consonant with European Court of Auditors (ECA) recommendations.
Historical precedents for EU borrowing operations
While Rosalba’s work sheds light on present-day transformations in EU policy, in her dissertation she endeavoured to trace the historical precedents for EU-level borrowing, which brought her to the HAEU. Having conducted previous archival research there concerning economic policy and the Maastricht Treaty, she was familiar with the holdings and the archivists, who had also grown to know her work. Noting the relevance of her thesis, the archivists flagged the European Court of Auditors Postgraduate Research Grant at the Archives, which she successfully secured.
In her subsequent visits to the HAEU, she consulted archival materials from the 1970s—particularly documents concerning the Medium-Term Financial Assistance Machinery and the Community Loan Mechanism. These programs, activated during the oil crisis, provided insight into how the European Communities once navigated financial assistance.
"I found fascinating internal correspondence between the Commission and Member States, as well as meeting minutes discussing implementation. Many elements—like the principle of conditionality—are similar to what we see today with NGEU," she says.
The results of this archival work were included in her PhD dissertation, which Rosalba is currently revising for publication as a monograph.
The European Court of Auditors Grant
The ECA grant aims to stimulate research on historical dimensions of EU budget and EU policy. For Rosalba, it also tied her scholarship to more concrete aspects of EU action, and enhanced the practical profile of her work. This was also enriched through the opportunity to discuss her work with practitioners at the ECA.
“I’m especially grateful for the discussions I had with ECA experts like Gilberto Moggia, which brought a more applied dimension to my theoretical work.”
The ECA grant scheme makes available up to two research grants each year. The next call for applications will be open from 7 July to 6 October 2025.