Unprecedented Revision of the EU Budget: Drivers and Innovations of the Mid‑Term Revision of the 2021–2027 Multiannual Financial Framework and the Croatian Perspective

In the turbulent global circumstances brought by the COVID 19, as well as by the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine, the European Commission considers the transition to a new economic model of responding to emerging economic, political, and environmental challenges. Alongside the European Recovery and Resilience Facility, the EU Multiannual Financial Framework for the period 2021–2027 (MFF), is currently in force, for which the Commission proposed a mid term revision. The aim of this paper is to analyse the reasons behind this unprecedented revision, with particular emphasis on Croatia as one of the largest net beneficiaries of EU funds. The findings show that insufficient absorption of Cohesion Policy funds did not play a decisive role in triggering the revision. Instead, inflationary pressures, the war in Ukraine, and the exhaustion of existing budgetary flexibility are main drivers.