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authors:
- anders
redirect_from: /2013/02/Join-hangout-on-the-EU-budget/
title: How to find spending data inside EU's budget - join us for a Google Hangout!
---

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Last week leaders from the European Union agreed, after months of haggling, on the 2014-2020 EU budget - also known as the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). The [€960bn budget](http://openspending.org/eu-budget-mff/entries) shown above marked a [widely reported reduction](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20392793) in the budget, but many other stories can be told from the [48 page agreement (PDF) ](http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/135344.pdf). Despite accounting for merely [1.08 % of EU's GNI](http://europa.eu/newsroom/highlights/multiannual-financial-framework-2014-2020/index_en.htm), the EU budget should arguably be considered important for every citizen or journalist with a spending nerd hidden inside. Whether you think of [the last minute cuts in broad band investments](http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/feb/11/broadband-budget-cut-rural-connection-billion-euro) or the continued commitment to one of the worlds largest [farm subsidy programmes](http://farmsubsidy.org/), the agreement on the EU budget reflects the current priorities of the member states. 

At OpenSpending we want to invite journalists and the OpenSpending community to share experiences about how to access and analyse the spending data behind EU's budget. <br>

Join us <strong>Monday 18 February at 19:00 CET / 18:00 GMT</strong> for a Google Hangout. 
[Ronny Patz](http://twitter.com/ronpatz) from [Transparency International in Brussels](http://www.transparencyinternational.eu/) will join and share his experiences on access to information on EU spending. 

At the hangout we'll discuss how to get started if you want to report on the spending behind the EU budget, and attempt to answer: 
<li>Where to find EU spending data?<br>
If you have decided to investigate EU spending, you want to locate who is responsible for releasing the data. We will talk about how to find spending data published at both [EU-level](http://ec.europa.eu/beneficiaries/fts/index_en.htm) and [national level](http://eustructuralfunds.gov.ie/). We have gathered a lot of information in this [map of EU spending](http://openspending.org/resources/eu/index.html).</li> 

<li>What's new to report on in the 2014-2020 EU budget?<br>
How do you examine the consequenses to smaller programmes such as [nature conservation](http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/e-u-says-20-percent-of-budget-green-critics-disagree/)? 
And how do you detect changes in the distribution of the structural funds?</li> 
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If some of the questions above have peaked your interest you should join us at the hangout. If you wish to get started now, have a look at some of the [EU spending data](http://openspending.org/eu-commission-fts) or [notes](http://openspending.org/resources/eu/notes.html) we're already featuring.
Join the Google Hangout by adding your name and email in the form below.  
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