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June 01, 2020 "The Commission has worked hard to remove these conditionalities from these instruments. We have had to change many implementing rules." The Commissioner for Economic Affairs of the European Union, Paolo Gentiloni, said on Radio 24 on the instruments put in place by Brussels against the economic crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic.

In Italy the MES pays off
"A country like France has an interest rate condition that is not identical to Italy's. We will see if the Spanish or Greek government will use it. I have no news that they will not," said Gentiloni about doubts about 'real convenience in resorting to tools such as Mes. "A country like Germany if it needs to borrow money for healthcare spending finds it on markets with even better interest rates than those of the Mes which are close to zero. For Italy, on the other hand, it makes a certain difference. say that Italy is wasting this opportunity is a bit early. Here are advantageous loans for a country like ours, a first 500 billion package that can be activated in the coming weeks. A second 750 billion package that needs the go-ahead of governments and ratification of parliaments. From January 1 of next year. So there is a lot of time to work on it. This opportunity should be taken to face some challenges such as technological and environmental transition. "

The Recovery Fund 
"At the moment the Recovery Fund is a step towards a more limited objective, that is, we currently have a building that has a single currency, but as far as budgetary policies are concerned, there are only surveillance mechanisms. Now there are instead non-repayable economic resources. We are taking a significant, but more limited, step than what is going towards a federation. There are some strategic sectors to be supported, businesses that can grow like the digital sector that Europe must encourage ".

Avoid rain funding
"The opportunity for economic recovery with European instruments should be used to tackle objectives of a certain importance: environmental transition, technological and digital innovation and to solve ancient problems. We must prevent the resources that will arrive from ending up in a thousand streams, whether they are scattered or intended for measures that do not have the investment profile, of priority. We must do something oriented towards the future. we have a great need. the European Commission leaves the responsibility of making the proposals to the countries, but then will want to verify that the stated objectives and declared times are respected ". 

Removed the conditionalities
"The Commission has worked hard to remove the conditionalities that initially existed in the Mes. Because the State Savings Fund had been designed for a completely different purpose, that is, for countries in difficulty asking for help, such as Greece, Spain, Portugal. We had to change many implementing rules to avoid these conditions. "

The strength of the European model is the single market
"This is why we must be careful that speeches on the 'European champions' do not bring different, monopolistic effects that would benefit some countries over others. When we suspended the normal rules on state aid, we received Commission requests for 2300 billion for exemption aid: about half of these came only from one country, Germany. So we see a different budgetary power from country to country, and without rules we can arrive at a difference between countries very dangerous". 

In the negotiation only minor changes are possible
"Perhaps there will be slight corrections, but not substantial ones. The negotiations will be difficult and we must respect the legitimacy of the different positions, but I am quite confident that the discussion will not undermine the architecture of the building". 

The challenges of the next few years
The Recovery Fund "is currently an extraordinary step towards the objective of providing Europe with an economic policy that has the resources available. We now have a building with a single currency for 19 countries, but on the economic policy front there are only surveillance mechanisms, while this time the idea of ​​having economic resources to face the challenges of the coming years has been accepted. It is a very important step, but more limited than those who see a step in the direction of a federal state ".