• Mes, Gentiloni: "Conditionality eliminated. Now we have many opportunities to seize"
  • Gentiloni: "European plan is historic turning point, now states approve"

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June 18, 2020 The agreement on a European recovery plan is "absolutely necessary" and, if it were not there, the consequences would be "serious and evident". EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said it today, interviewed by France 2, recommending that the agreement will be in July "This agreement - said Gentiloni - is absolutely necessary and I know that it will be achieved, it will probably arrive in July and not tomorrow, but the consequences would be so serious and evident that there is no need to discuss it, but it will come. I am sure. " 

Gentiloni clarified that the intervention is urgent. "There is an urgency and, in fact, one of the bases of this extraordinary intervention is the urgency, but at the same time I understand that issuing debt to finance common programs is such a novel thing, that one understands the fact that one must work on it again, "continued the minister.

"I think we will make it" to find an agreement between the EU countries on the European Union's recovery plan, "but perhaps not tomorrow. Tomorrow I think it will be an intermediate step to bring positions closer and better understand between heads of state and government the differences that are always on the table ", explained Gentiloni in view of tomorrow's European Council which will focus on the discussion on the recovery plan and the new 2021-27 budget.  

"The extraordinary purpose" of the Recovery Fund is "to prevent a common crisis, which has affected all countries without distinction, from having very different economic consequences - explained the Commissioner - this could endanger the single market and the strength of our common currency. The Commission's plan is primarily to prevent countries with less financial strength from responding to this crisis. We have tried to find the criteria that go in this direction. We can improve them but I don't think we can change them in substance ". The so-called "frugal" countries (the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden) "are among those that derive the greatest benefits from the EU. This is not something that does not interest them. It is not only about solidarity but a common interest", he stressed.