Ursula von der Leyen advances in a recovery plan
Avoid detailing issues such as their size and the ratio of loans to transfers
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has shared with the European Parliament the “main characteristics” of the recovery plan that she is designing to relaunch the European economy after the pandemic, which will be based on three main pillars and whose investments will be available in part this year.
The German, however, has not entered specific figures on this reconstruction fund. It has been speculated for weeks with a size of up to 1.5 billion euros, “It will be focused on great needs, will last for the short term and will be concentrated on the first years of the recovery. It will include subsidies and the possibility of bringing part of the investment forward to this year.”
The “bulk” of the fund will be in the first pillar, intended to “help Member States recover and come out stronger” from the crisis. Brussels will propose that this first column of the fund support “key public investments” that are aligned with the bloc’s two strategic priorities: climate and digital transitions. Also within the first pillar will be a reinforced budget for Cohesion Policy.
The second block of the relaunch plan will include a tool for “new strategic investments”, for example to reduce the EU’s dependency on medicine from abroad. In the same way, a “solvency instrument” will be created to help companies that need to be recapitalized after the pandemic with European funds “wherever they are.”
The third and final pillar of the recovery will be focused on strengthening European programs such as the Horizonte research program, which “have demonstrated their value in the crisis” and other new ones, such as a specific one on health that will be created.
Source: dpa
