Paris (AFP)
The agreement reached on the stimulus plan is for the European Union "the most important moment since the creation of the euro," Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, a few hours after the end of the Brussels summit.
This agreement amounting to 750 billion euros, concluded Tuesday at dawn, is the result of "three years of work between France and Germany", he added to the newspaper of 20H from TF1.
"I want our fellow citizens to understand the importance of what happened during these four days and four nights," insisted the head of state. "This is the project on which the French trusted me, which I presented in September 2017 at La Sorbonne. We fought (...) This is the most important moment in the life of our Europe since the creation of the euro ", entered into circulation on January 1, 2002.
Emmanuel Macron confirmed that France would receive "40 billion euros on this stimulus plan" and will be "the 3rd beneficiary in Europe", after Italy and Spain. This "corresponds to 40% of the expenditure" of the French recovery plan evaluated at 100 billion, which "means that this money will come from Europe on our budget without our having to finance it, neither by our own debt nor by our taxes, "he detailed.
The French recovery plan, which will be presented on August 24, will be used to "finance the employment of young people", "our small and medium-sized enterprises, our craftsmen, our traders", "tourism but also the thermal renovation of buildings", "hydrogen, electric batteries ... anything that will allow us to create jobs," he listed.
The Head of State affirmed that "it is not the French taxpayer" who "will pay" the recovery plan, "because we are committed to creating new own resources".
It is, he explained, "to be able, at European level, to levy a tax on large companies and international players who do not play the game of our policies". To the tax on plastic, "a first clean resource", he wants to add "a digital tax for the major international digital players who today do not pay taxes".
The second track is the installation of a "carbon mechanism at the borders", he added, citing the example of steel imported into Europe. "When we import steel that comes from the end of the world, which is made under much less virtuous conditions (than in Europe), we must be able to impose a tax at our borders which avoids unfair competition" from "this steel which would come from India, China or elsewhere ".
"This European tax that we are going to build together will make it possible to repay this debt that we are contracting," said
Emmanuel Macron.
© 2020 AFP