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With a parallel agenda that will take them to travel next week to Berlin, The Hague and Stockholm , the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte , have insisted today, at a meeting in La Moncloa , in their positions on the European reconstruction fund and the need for 500,000 of the 750,000 million contemplated in the initial proposal of the European Commission to be direct aid to the countries most affected by the coronavirus, such as Spain and Italy .

The two have engaged in intense negotiating action before the decisive meeting of the European Council on July 17 and 18 and in the next few days they will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte , and Swedish Minister Stefan Löfven. , after having visited the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa , on consecutive days . But, despite these first movements, the appointment with Portugal and the meeting between the two in Spain, Sánchez and Conte reject a division between countries of the north and the south, similar to the one that occurred in the great crisis of 2008. There is no "Mediterranean" vision defended by Spain, Italy, Portugal and also France , but rather reinforces unity of intent. It is not "a southern front," Conte said, because "it is shared by many other countries." In fact, there was a prime proposal from Germany and France for a reconstruction fund that, in line with what the Spanish and Italians were asking for, the two countries immediately applauded. There are northern and central European countries, Sánchez recalled, who support her.

It is not a debate on how to act but on whether the reaction is valid or not. The discussion is that the so-called frugal countries, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Denmark , demand that the recovery fund be articulated by means of credits, also subject to precise conditions. Conte has assured that it is not possible to "question the extraordinary, direct response to a crisis that is extraordinary." In this sense, the two leaders have defended that "we cannot stay behind the Commission's response, which is balanced, useful", in reference to a reduction of the block of 500,000 million. For now, Sánchez said, "Europe has only responded by means of loans, that is why it is so important that the 500,000 transfers are maintained."

With this objective, Sánchez and Conte have planned their tour of the European capitals. The Italian prime minister has assured that they must transmit a "strong message", that "we cannot be cautious but daring so that there is a strong response." What is at stake, he explained, is "the single market", whether or not we want a "competitive" Europe of healthy economies. An answer that must be produced "now", this July, so that a new negotiation does not dilute it. Preserving the single market, Spanish stressed, "is in everyone's interest" because even the countries that put up reluctance "benefit".

Rescue fund

The Spanish president has helped his Italian counterpart today, continually challenged by the possibility that Italy will take advantage of the ESM, the European Stability Mechanism , conceived as a rescue fund, and has pointed out that these instruments should be de-dramatized. "What doesn't make sense is that we create them and then we're ashamed to use them." Spain has always denied that it intends to avail itself of these credits, but today the president makes it conditional on the "evolution of the pandemic during the next semester". "Hopefully we are not forced to use it because that will mean that the pandemic has subsided," he stressed.

Still pending the endorsement of some countries, Sánchez has underlined that it is "a precautionary line without conditionality that refers to health expenses to save lives", so "we cannot minimize or frivolize the magnitude of the pandemic."

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