Paris and Berlin are pressing for European recovery funds
The four largest countries in the eurozone have recovery plans ready and want to sample European billions as soon as possible. “Europe should remain in the race now that China and the United States are moving full speed ahead.”
The French and German finance ministers, Bruno Le Maire and Olaf Schulz, presented their national plans for recovery at a joint video conference on Tuesday. A year ago, the two ministers argued to take on European debt for the sake of recovery. This initiative led to an agreement in July on the European Recovery Fund, an amount of € 750 billion that the Commission will loan to member states in financial markets.
Scholes and Le Maire are targeting those European billionaires with their recovery plan, in the form of subsidies and cheap loans. This morning comes after a joint statement with colleagues from Italy and Spain.
The four major eurozone countries indicate in their plans how they intend to spend European billions and reforms in return. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi won the approval of the Italian parliament on Tuesday to present the recovery plan and requested more than 200 billion euros in subsidies and cheap loans from Europe.
France has opted for a green and digital recovery plan worth 100 billion euros, of which 40 billion come from the total of the European Union. However, the number of substantive reforms is limited. Germany is entitled to € 25.6 billion in European recovery funds, but it is not very innovative when it comes to spending cents.
Not all member states will enter the recovery plan before the deadline on Friday night, April 30th. The Netherlands, the largest of the small eurozone nations, missed the deadline due to the lack of a new government.
All 27 member states must give their consent. That would be almost impossible in Finland.
Do not waste time
The whistle of major countries indicates the end of playing time. Paris, in particular, is impatient and the committee warns that this must be done quickly and smoothly. Le Maire called on the commission to quickly assess the national recovery plans so that the money could trickle down and boost growth.
We have already lost a lot of time. “We must not give up the role now as China and the United States are making full progress in the global race to recovery,” says Le Maire. According to the International Monetary Fund, the United States will grow 6.4 percent this year and the Eurozone by 4.4 percent. Europe could leave the Corona crisis behind in the second half of 2022, and the United States is already ready.
To borrow EU billions, all 27 member states must agree to increased margins on the EU budget. Finland, facing a government crisis, needs an almost impossible two-thirds majority to do so.
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