There are good and bad elements of this. As someone who has worked with academic EU grants in the past, the collaboration part is good for transmitting know-ho

There are good and bad elements of this. As someone who has worked with academic EU grants in the past, the collaboration part is good for transmitting know-how/tacit knowledge to newer member states. There's a cost to this of course, but I understand why they do it given that integration is probably the largest challenge facing the EU at the moment.