Last week on 23 April, EU heads of state and government met via video conference to address the development of economic measures to recover from the coronavirus crisis. However, instead of proposing ambitious measures, in particular coronabonds, a mutualised debt instrument, EU Leaders decided not to decide. The European Commission is instead tasked with the responsibility of designing a recovery plan within the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
Reacting to this Evelyne Huytebroeck, co-chair of the European Green Party said, “While European citizens were expecting a strong message of solidarity, EU leaders disappointingly kicked the can down the road by passing the burden of designing an economic recovery plan on the shoulder of the European Commission. It seems that EU leaders still fail to understand that solidarity is beneficial for the entire European project, both in social and economic terms.”
Thomas Waitz, co-chair of the European Green Party and MEP added, “We are stricken by the overall lack of clarity following yesterday’s European Council meeting. We support the massive increase of the EU budget proposed by President Von der Leyen after the European Council meeting, but we now need to see a concrete plan. A European budget with its own resources ceiling set at 2% of the European GNI must be permanent. It is time for the EU to gain more independent room for manoeuver. Own resources through taxes on carbon, kerosene or plastic can help achieve this while supporting a green recovery. Let’s not forget that no clarity has been given on whether grants or loans would be the main instrument in the fund. Grants should be the preferred instrument to effectively support the most affected countries.”
“We want to ensure the Green Deal remains central to the economic recovery. This is simply the most efficient way to ensure that the recovery is future-proof and doesn’t lead to another crisis very soon.”
