The New Challenges of Public Finance: Principles and Tools

Considering the new European budget rules, effective as from 30 April 2024, the construction of a taxonomy of public finance principles, as currently codified in the legal framework, is useful for the purposes of their comprehensive classification. Three categories of principles can thus be identified: the first includes formal principles related to the criteria that characterize public finance documents; the second emphasizes the functional aspect, particularly with reference to allocative and distributive decisions made through the main tools that compose the budget cycle; and the third includes behavioural principles aimed at guiding the actions and behaviors of institutional actors. The interrelations between the individual principles within and beyond the different identified categories are also highlighted, for illustrative purposes.