Back
Coronavirus: Rocky path ahead for European Commission
May 27, 2020
This unprecedented money raising effort is about a collective responsibility as President Ursula von der Leyen sees it.
She stated that it was "high time to take the right decision because the cost of not investing in the crisis, will come back manifold in future."
But her pitch was just the start of what will take a huge effort by the Commission to get all member states on side, especially as the Commission wants this agreed by leaders at the next EU summit in three weeks time.
After a round robin of calls to European diplomats this afternoon, I got a clear sense that there's not yet an overall majority in favour.
Southern Mediterranean countries such as Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy have all indicated initial support. One Italian diplomat told me that if the proposal was agreed, Italy may be eligible for grants accounting for up to 5% of the country's GDP, to kickstart their post pandemic economy.
EU's €750bn recovery fund marks 'Europe's moment' Why Merkel may help fund Europe's virus recovery
There are many countries, including Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Lithuania that won't commit either way, until they've read the small print of the plans. "With these things, the devil is often in the detail, so this will take several days of legal analysis", one Bulgarian official told me.
6Shares
0Comments
0Favorites
5Likes
Say something to impress...
Loading...
Comments
Hot

No content at this moment.

Relevant people
BBC News
134121 Followers
News and more.
Related