The health, economic and social crisis caused by COVID-19 has been addressed under fiscal policy parameters that are very different from those followed to deal with the economic crisis of 2008. In that crisis, strict budgetary discipline was applied and a significant reduction of public spending; In the current crisis, the fiscal rules, both European and national, have been suspended (although it must continue to guarantee budgetary sustainability in the medium and long term), and a Recovery Plan for Europe has been adopted, which represents a significant volume of spending public. The classic Multiannual Financial Framework has been reinforced with a specific additional Fund (Next Generation EU), the execution of which compels the Member States to invest in projects in collaboration with the private sector, which serve to modernize public services, complying with the challenges of economic recovery, social protection, digital transformation and ecological transition. In order to meet the challenges posed, new legal-financial instruments are required. Thus, to finance Next Generation EU, given the limited EU budget, the European Commission resorts for the first time to borrowing in the capital market on behalf of the EU, assuming obligations with which to obtain significant credit income. As a consequence of the need to guarantee these loans and help finance the cost of repayment, the EU intends to expand its system of own resources, in two directions: on the one hand, by increasing its room for maneuver by modifying the resources already existing; and, on the other hand, through the creation of new own resources, notably, taxes with a clear non-fiscal purpose (eg environmental). The need to finance the European public debt as an instrument to get out of the crisis may be the definitive impetus for the creation of new EU taxes.

This fiscal reform is not easy, due, among other factors, to the unanimity criterion of the 27 Member States for the adoption of decisions on fiscal and spending matters; but it reflects a very important change within the EU, both in its own fiscal policy and with respect to the States, and supposes a strategic reconfiguration of the EU, which is yet to be defined. In this context, financing plays a key role in the construction of a strategic responsibility of the State. On the one hand, financing, and in particular public financial activity, clearly contributes to the guiding or directing function (Steuerung) carried out by the State. By way of example, from the point of view of income, the strengthening of management taxes can be highlighted; and, from the point of view of public spending, subsidies with a finalist character. On the other hand, the strategic role of the State requires guaranteeing financing that is, at the same time, inclusive and sustainable, whether it comes from the public sector or the private sector. The research is projected in reference sectors (such as water, energy, health and social services, logistics networks and telecommunications), and has a marked interdisciplinary and comparative nature, with the participation of researchers and professionals, Spanish and foreign, from the field of Law financial and tax, but also Economics, Medicine and Management in the reference sectors.