France and Germany on Tuesday called on the European Commission to accelerate the release of funds for the European recovery plan of 750 billion euros.

This should allow France to touch around 40 billion euros, in return for respecting certain rules.

Europe 1 explains this file to you.

DECRYPTION

Supposed to accelerate the rebound of the economy, strongly affected by the Covid crisis, the European Union (EU) is slow to release its 750 billion euros recovery plan.

In any case, this is what France and Germany believe, which on Tuesday called on the European Commission to examine the national recovery plans "as soon as possible" to prevent Europe, weakened by the failures of the vaccination, is not being left behind by China and the United States in the race for global recovery.

Resulting from an agreement obtained last July, the European recovery plan should allow France to recover around 40 billion euros.

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"We have wasted too much time"

The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, would like to receive the first payments by the end of the summer. A priori, these payments should rather take place in September. "We have wasted too much time. Chinese growth has picked up again, the United States is booming. The European Union must stay in the race," the French minister said at a joint press conference with his counterpart German Olaf Scholz Tuesday.

"The Commission must analyze the national recovery and resilience plans as soon as possible so that they can be approved by the Council by July at the latest. This will allow the money to be paid before the end of the summer," said insisted the French minister, who the day before said he hoped for a first payment in early September.

This week is important for the European recovery plan, since a dozen countries must submit their plan to it, including France and Germany on Wednesday.

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Brussels says it heard the message

"The political responsibility of the Member States and of the Commission is now to make the European recovery plan a concrete reality for our citizens as soon as possible", hammered Bruno Le Maire.

In Brussels, they say they heard the message.

"Right now, the governments of the EU countries are finalizing their national stimulus plans. And the Commission is working hand in hand with them on these plans, 24 hours a day," said the EU president. , Ursula von der Leyen, in a press release.

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Rules to follow to obtain funds

In detail, to benefit from these 40 billion euros, France must respect certain rules.

First of all, we have to prove that this money will make it possible to revive the economy thanks to ecological measures.

France plans to devote 37% of funds to ecological transition, in particular through aid for energy renovation.

The rest should be used to finance the competitiveness of businesses, digital transformation or even youth employment.

Second obligation: prove that once the crisis has passed, the country will be able to consolidate its public finances and reduce its deficit. On this point, France promises a law which will allow better control of State spending and also puts forward the reform of unemployment insurance. Will the tricolor file be enough to convince? The answer should therefore fall in several weeks.