Franco-German proposal for recovery fund seen as a positive step

Lisbon, 19 May 2020 - MEP Francisco Guerreiro (PAN) considers the proposal for the European economy recovery fund, presented yesterday by the German Chanceller and the French President, to be a positive step.  

Although the official and legitimate proposal of the President of the European Commission (EC) is still awaited, this plan from Berlin and Paris is a positive step, especially considering the deadlock that has been felt around issuing common debt, the Eurobonds.  

Francisco Guerreiro underlines that the European Green Deal should be at the center of European policy and that there is also talk of greater ambition in terms of carbon reduction targets in the European Union.  

"All of this is proposed entirely within the community method, also involving the EP, which is a breath of fresh air when compared to the latest major proposals coming from the European Council that always try to go through intergovernmental paths," comments the MEP. 

The leaders of the two countries propose a 500 billion euro Fund financed by a single loan from the European Commission, on behalf of all Member States and which will not count towards each country's sovereign debt level.  

Although the figure is considered to be below necessary, this proposal goes in the right direction by assuming that all these figures would come in the form of grants and not loans to Member States.  It should be recalled that the European Parliament (EP) has already adopted a resolution proposing a socio-economic recovery and transformation plan supported by the multiannual financial framework (MFF) worth 2 trillion euros, of which at least 1 trillion euros would be in the form of grants financed through a common loan guaranteed by the Union budget.

Another important point is the fact that grants are awarded in the form of budgetary expenditure to the sectors and regions most affected by the crisis, mitigating the possible problematic debate on transfers from one Member State to another.  

There are still some details to be clarified such as the maturity of the obligations and how they will be paid. However, this proposal may be the key to the stalemate that has been observed in the European Council in relation to the next MFF and now also in the preparation of the recovery fund. 

The proposal appears to be unambitious in terms of MFF, despite not presenting values, but is considered by the Greens/European Free Alliance as innovative, Europeanist and responsible. The parliamentary group hopes that countries that are normally detractors of this kind of solidarity ambition can be convinced and that an agreement might be reached regarding a Community Budget and a robust, well-designed recovery fund capable of recovering the European economy by transforming it to face the new realities, commitments and objectives, especially climatic ones.

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