Coronavirus, EU agreement on Recovery Fund: "It is urgent and necessary"

• Coronavirus, Angela Merkel at the Bundestag: "European solidarity but eurobonds are not a suitable tool"

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EU leaders have mandated the Commission to analyze precisely what the needs of the European post-pandemic revitalization fund are, which have agreed to create and formulate a proposal in this regard, announced the President of the EU Council, Charles Michel. The Fund will be linked to the EU's multi-year budget.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, as we learn, during the European Council asked for a modification to the conclusions of the meeting on the Recovery Fund. Change that, according to the same sources, has been included and would frame the plan for the EU recovery as a "necessary and urgent" tool.

Von der Leyen: loans and grants will be fair
"There is only one tool that can bring this recovery, and it is the EU budget linked to the Recovery fund", "investments must be anticipated and there must be a fair balance between grants and loans" said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. According to von der Leyen, the budget is appropriate because "it is designed for cohesion, convergence and programs. And the Member States have supported this position". For the Recovery Fund "we don't talk about billions, we talk about thousands of billions".

Conte: anticipating Recovery Fund resources to this year
"We should give a clear mandate to the European Commission to prepare a concrete proposal for the Recovery Fund as soon as possible, providing a 'bridge' to anticipate resources this year" he said we learn, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte during the Council. "The amount of the Recovery Fund should be 1.5 trillion and provide subsidies to Member States. Grants are essential to preserve the single market, a level playing field and ensure a symmetrical response to a symmetrical shock."

Covid-19 emergency is also political
"The health emergency has become an economic and social emergency very soon. But we are now also facing a political emergency" added Conte.

No to North-South differences, we protect EU interests
"We should review the concept of altruism not only in the sense of altruism but also in the sense of a less romantic concept, that of the 'community of interests': we are working to preserve the internal market and in this perspective there are no differences between Northern and Southern Europe "continued the Prime Minister.

Merkel: open exchange, we don't agree on everything
"We spoke openly and in a spirit of collaboration" said Angela Merkel after the council. "We are not of the same opinion on everything," he added.

Macron: massive recovery plans needed in the EU
"Recovery plans after this crisis must be financed and must be massive": said the French President, Emmanuel Macron, speaking from the Elysée. "You have to live up to this answer and decide on the strongest possible answers as soon as possible," he added.

ECB: attention to the risk of acting too little and too late
"Acting too little, too late". This is the risk that the EU is running. ECB president Christine Lagarde said so to the 27 leaders gathered, according to a source. A "strong and flexible" Recovery Fund is needed immediately. Eurozone GDP could drop by up to 15%. Lagarde also warned against the risk that not all countries will be able to act in the necessary way.

Here's how the EU budget will provide guarantees to the recovery fund
The president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, confirmed today that to provide the guarantees underlying the euro bonds that will finance the future EU recovery fund, the hypothesis of substantially increasing the ceiling of the "commitments" of the EU's 2021-2027 multi-year budget, leaving the ceiling of expenditure roughly at the current level (just over 1% of the Community's GDP). The difference (called in English "headroom") between the ceiling of commitments and real expenditure could thus be up to 0.80% of the Community GDP, and be used for guarantees. For the Recovery Fund "we are talking about very important sums, and we need to finance this fund. We therefore need a guarantee base to issue bonds and common securities, "said Sassoli, today in Brussels, during the press videoconference at the end of his speech at the dedicated European Council the economic response to the Coronavirus crisis, also underway via videoconference. Answering a question on the use of the difference between commitments and real spending, Sassoli confirmed: "We too understood this, and on May 5, in the meeting that President Ursula von der Leyen will have with the conference of presidents, we hope that has the opportunity to better outline the structure and model of this plan ".

"The figures that have been indicated, both by the ECB and by the Commission" for the Fund, "can only be the result of transfers in the balance sheet and bonds that are financed by the market. There are no other instruments. We understand that there is we need a mountain of money, and we need all the tools to ensure that this fund is endowed with the necessary resources, "said the President of the European Parliament. We need a plan - added Sassoli - that provides two possibilities : loans and financing. Loans, because we need countries to draw on resources that may be available to them, within their reach; but at the same time we need "non-repayable" funding that above all push countries in difficulty to get their car back on track. "

These are "issues that will have to be clarified very precisely. Above all - stressed the President of the European Parliament -, we need non-refundable funding that will come into operation very soon. That is why we think, and we have told the European Council, not to give up idea that before the budget comes into force, there could be something that would guarantee the fund to enter into force temporarily. "This" because we need it, especially for some of the most affected economies, which, however, are fundamental for the reconstruction of the industrial fabric. and economics of Europe, to have resources very soon available. And I believe - concluded Sassoli - that some corrections can be useful to avoid waiting too long, and in particular the entry into force of the budget on January 1 of 2021 '.

Sassoli: EU is not an alibi for national inefficiencies
The EU must not become an "alibi" to cover the "inefficiencies" of national bureaucracies, both "public" and "private", Sassoli then strongly emphasized.

"We - says the president - need at this moment, and our citizens ask us, for a strong work of sburocratization. It also passes through the European mechanisms, but above all by how these are declined by the nation states. 'Europe was an alibi for some inefficiencies of our national systems ".

 "That's why - he continues - we need to push, to make sure that Europe and its institutions, which are not only those of Brussels, but are also those of our Member States, collaborate together with this capacity for rapid intervention "I think this is very necessary and very useful, because we already see that some resources that are available have stops and blocks from not only public but also private bureaucracies, which at this moment must be called to their responsibility".

Governments protect European heritage from predatory logics
"We are living in a moment of great fragility, we would not want this condition to be exposed to predatory logics of forces outside Europe" Sassoli stressed. "I asked the attention of all European governments to protect our industrial, tourist and cultural heritage. It is with our heritage that we will emerge from the crisis".

All countries must have the tools to stabilize economies
"It is not just a matter of deploying the necessary resources but it will be essential that everyone has the necessary tools to protect their citizens, stabilize markets and relaunch their economies. This is the moment of unity: the European market is unique, if we do not share together, no one will be able to revive economies that are deeply interconnected and strongly interdependent among themselves ", concluded the president.

The draft of the European Commission
A plan made up of various financial instruments to generate 2,000 billion euros of investments, loans and expenses destined to boost the economy of the European Union after the deep contraction caused by the Coronavirus crisis. These are the main lines on which the Ursula von der Leyen Commission is working, according to an internal document which the AGI came into possession of. The document has been prepared in recent weeks but, according to Commission spokesman Eric Mamer, has not received approval from von der Leyen or his cabinet.

The president "will present the main lines of her proposal on how to move forward for the shoot during the leaders' video conference," said Mamer. But the document - as we learn - contains some of the guidelines and elements that von der Leyen will present to today's European Council.

The draft plan consists of several instruments, including the creation of a Recovery Instrument which, on the basis of Article 122 of the Treaty, should allow the Commission to issue debt of up to 320 billion euros on the markets. Half of these resources - according to the document - should go to finance loans to Member States.

The other half should be used for direct appropriations through the EU budget. Member States would be called upon to repay loans after 2027 with a very long time horizon. Furthermore, it is not excluded that part of the debt can be paid through new own resources.

The draft plan foresees another 200 billion from the EU budget to help finance national recovery plans, in particular through the budgetary instrument for convergence and competitiveness that had been proposed for the euro area.

Finally, the Commission should anticipate the 50 billion euro disbursement of cohesion policy in 2021 and 2022 to generate 150 billion of expenditure with national co-financing for the labor market, health and SMEs.