The first to react among the 27 european leaders is the one who, in his country, faced the most severe epidemics : the Italian Giuseppe Conte. The first to confine his country is looking forward, in a tweet, an " excellent signal to Brussels ", a few minutes after the president of the european Commission has unveiled a stimulus package of € 750 billion, including $ 500 billion of subsidies. He was the first to demand solidarity on the part of the Europeans and he has not forgotten the contempt with which he was treated by the Dutch during the european Council in march.
Ottimo segnale da Brussels, will proprio nella direzione indicata dall'italia. Siamo stati descritti come visionari perché ci abbiamo creduto dall'inizio. 500 mld a fondo perduto e 250 di prestiti sono una cifra adeguata. Ora acceleriamo sul negoziato e liberiamo presto le risorse
— Giuseppe Conte (@GiuseppeConteIT) May 27, 2020
With his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez and the support of the president Macron, Conte has led the battle to influence in order to achieve this proposal. "We have been described as visionaries, because we believe in it since the beginning," says the president of the Italian Council. Are now accelerating the negotiation and release soon the resources. "Conte had been at the origin of the" Letter of the 9 ", which proposed to the 27 use of an "instrument of common debt" to restart all the european economies, and to rebalance disparities between the States.
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The hope of a political agreement
The european Council of 19 June should, in fact, consider this package of measures, that is to say, both the "great loan" of 750 billion, but also the european budget classic 1 100 billion euros for the period 2021-2027. "Even if everything is not precisely recorded in mid-June, we hope to achieve a political agreement at this date ", said, Tuesday, Amélie de Montchalin, secretary of State for european Affairs. On the side of the Elysium, it is noted that this loan, which would be binding on the Union until 2058, is " a clear signal that we believe in the strength of the european project ". Charles Michel, the president of the Council, was cautious in speaking of a " milestone ". No commitment on his part as long as it has not resolved the opposition of the so-called "frugal" (Austria, Denmark, the netherlands and Sweden). The frugal campaigning for the stimulus plan include only "loans conditioned to the reforms" and not a grant.
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But the front of frugal is not uniformly aggressive. If the Austrian Sebastian Kurz (EPP) is one that has taken the lead of the challenge so decided, it comes to be over-ruled by the Greens austrians, indispensable partners in the government coalition. In other words, Kurz can no longer represent the position of the austrian government, but only his own... In Danish, the minister of foreign Affairs, Jeppe Kofod, has welcomed the franco-German proposal of a fund to the direct aid of eur 500 billion which has been taken by the Commission... does this mean that Copenhagen makes the weapons ? For Sweden, Stefan Lofven does not appear to be very combative. Finally, Mark Rutte, the head of the Dutch government, the most powerful of the four frugal, unobtrusive in design. Partner and friend of Emmanuel Macron, he has been regularly let into the secret of the franco-German discussions on the direct aid. A clause to control the destination of funds was arranged for him so that he could get, when the time came, the support of his Parliament. One of the partners in his coalition, the party D66, is the still very favourable to direct aid and to european solidarity that they imply...
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" solidarity is back, the spirit of Robert Schuman is back ", welcome, for its part, the German Manfred Weber, chairman of the EPP group (christian democrats) in the european Parliament. He stresses that he does not like that Europe will make of the debts, but he does not see " other solutions as to invest in our economies ", provided that " the money is not being used to solve old problems ". A clear warning to the States that would be tempted to use the european funds to plug deficits in public ordinary. But the Commission will, since the member States will submit national plans for investment arrow to the future, to know the décarbonation of the economy (thermal insulation of buildings, conversion to green technologies) and the completion of the digital conversion (artificial Intelligence, 5G, quantum computation, etc).
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The ultraconservateurs of the UDDER behind von der Leyen
Among the social-democrats, the chairwoman Iratxe Garcia Perez welcomed an " ambitious plan (...) unthinkable a few months ago of this ", considering that what is at stake is neither more nor less than " the survival of the euro and the single market, and thus the entire european project ". For the liberals to Renew, the president, Dacian Ciolos described as "remarkable" the proposition of the Commission which is to' avoid the mistakes of the last crisis." It refers to the indecisiveness of the Europeans during the crisis of 2008. Europe had taken more time to get out of the recession by applying an austerity which had slowed the return of the growth compared to the rest of the world. The lesson has been chosen and the speed of the reaction of the european Union in the last three months defies years of pining -
Even the group sovereigntist ECR came in support of the Commission through the speech of the Belgian Johan Van Overtveldt (member of the flemish nationalist party NV-A). It should be noted that the ultraconservateurs of the PIS delegation hinge of the ECR group, are very supportive of this recovery plan. In a non-paper published by Warsaw on may 8, he defended with vigour on a european recovery on condition that the cohesion fund – of which they are the primary beneficiaries – are not initiated. Johan Van Overtveldt has insisted that the giants of digital who only pay very low taxes in Europe are significantly increasing their contributions in the light of the profits that they make in the single market.
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" A madness ", for the group of Marine Le Pen
The first-of-key note in this chorus of praise has been issued by the German Jörg Meuthen (AfD), group Identity and Democracy (including the national Gathering of Marine Le Pen, Lega Matteo Salvini...). "It is a complement foolish, citizens will pay a huge price for this madness, stabbed it to the attention of Ursula von der Leyen, sitting not far from him in the hemicycle of the european. You spend money that is not yours, but that of the taxpayers, and this, without limits. What you do is simply irresponsible. (...) From a monetary perspective, it is a real hara-kiri. "For Meuthen, the revitalization plan of Ursula von der Leyen is part of" the economy voodoo "that the Commission wants to" impose on the citizens ", too stunned to realize it.
Finally, to the extreme left, Manon Aubry (France insubordinate), president of the group GUE, has put into question the "liberal policies of the european Union in recent years "who have" exhausted our systems of health care, destroying our industrial fabric and détricoté our social protections ". The mep French acknowledges, however, that "not everything is to throw" and welcomes the potential creation of " own resources as the fee of plastic or the carbon tax ", but it regrets that it does not tax the billionaires or the winners of the crisis, such as the hypermarkets. On the other hand, the 750 billion euro, are far from satisfied with Manon Aubry, who recalls that the european Parliament, in a large majority, called for 2 000 billion euros in the following two weeks. The GUE defends the idea of a cancellation of the debt and the redemption by the ECB in the form of "perpetual debt" (never repaid).
