Paris (AFP)

France and Germany called on the European Commission on Tuesday to examine national stimulus plans "as soon as possible" to prevent Europe, weakened by vaccine failures, from being left behind by China and the United States. United in the race for global recovery.

"We have wasted too much time. Chinese growth has picked up. The United States is booming. The European Union must stay in the race," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said at a conference. joint press with his German counterpart Olaf Scholz.

A symbolic initiative aiming to put the Franco-German couple back at the center of the European game, like a year ago.

"The Commission must analyze the national recovery and resilience plans as soon as possible so that they can be approved by the Council by July at the latest. This will allow the money to be paid before the end of the summer," said insisted the French minister, who the day before said he hoped for a first payment in early September.

The EU, which agreed in July 2020 on a recovery fund of 750 billion euros (5.6% of European GDP) financed by a common debt issue, will take an important step this week since a dozen of countries must submit their plan to him, including France and Germany on Wednesday.

312.5 billion euros will be paid in the form of grants.

To each according to their needs: if Italy and Spain will be the main beneficiaries, to the tune of 70 billion each, France will receive nearly 40 billion euros and Germany, Europe's largest economy, 25.6 billion .

"The political responsibility of the Member States and of the Commission is now to make the European recovery plan a concrete reality for our citizens as soon as possible", hammered Bruno Le Maire.

A message that was heard in Brussels: "Right now, the governments of the EU countries are finalizing their national recovery plans. And the Commission is working hand in hand with them on these plans, 24 hours a day" EU President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.

- "Occasion of the century" -

"This is the opportunity of the century for Europe. A truly historic moment," she insisted.

But if "vaccination is accelerating in Europe", according to Ms. von der Leyen, the Old Continent is lagging behind the growth of the two largest world economies.

On the one hand, China started the year with a bang, with growth estimated at 18.3% in the first quarter.

On the other hand, new President Joe Biden's $ 1.9 trillion plan will boost the US economy.

According to the IMF, it should achieve growth of 6.4% this year, against 4.4% for the euro area.

Compared to the 2009-2011 crisis, from which it almost did not recover, Europe seemed determined this time to make the Covid-19 pandemic an opportunity to move forward and show its usefulness.

In May 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel propose a support plan of 500 billion euros financed by a common loan.

This initiative of the Franco-German couple led to the historic agreement of the Twenty-Seven in July.

Alas, the failures then accumulate, between a common vaccine purchasing policy that lacks ambition, parliaments that are slow to give their green light to recourse to common borrowing, the German Constitutional Court which gets involved. ...

"I think we are on the right track, not only in Germany and France, but also in other states," said Olaf Scholz, however, saying he was "confident" on the outcome of the ratification process.

According to the rating agency Standard and Poor's, the Next Generation EU plan could bring an additional 4.1 points of growth to the Twenty-Seven if the funds start to be disbursed as planned this summer.

But should we not immediately consider a new stimulus?

"Before thinking about a new plan, let's adopt this one", swept Bruno Le Maire in response to a question from AFP.

"We will see in a few weeks where we are in terms of growth in Europe, and then we will take the necessary decisions," he added.

© 2021 AFP