From May 27 to 29, 2026, the Institut d’études européennes at the Université libre de Bruxelles hosted this year’s IDEAS Conference. There, research findings from the ReSpend project were presented to a wider audience for the first time. Jakob Pegels presented the results from the ReSpend database under the title “How EU money is spent: Mapping institutional features of spending governance,” which were developed last year in collaboration with Taylor Pearce and Miriam Hartlapp. Amid midsummer temperatures in the institute’s historic villa, the panel discussions featured constructive exchanges and helpful feedback from the audience, which included both political scientists and experts in European law.