Finance ministers of Germany, France, Italy, and Spain urged member states to submit their recovery plans and pressed the European Commission to speed up the assessment of the investment and reform proposals.
Ministers Olaf Scholz (Germany), Bruno Le Maire (France), Daniele
Franco (Italy) and Nadia Calviño (Spain) said in a joint declaration on
Wednesday that the four largest European economies will submit their
recovery plans this week.
By Thursday evening, the Commission confirmed the submission of the
Portuguese, Greek, and German final drafts. The EU executive expected to
receive a dozen of plans by midnight on Friday.
Scholz and Le Maire called on the rest of the 27 to send their
proposals and ratify “as soon as possible” the Own Resources Decision,
needed to be able to borrow the €800 billion to finance the recovery
fund.
France on Tuesday (27 April) called on the EU Commission to expedite
its approval of massive spending plans designed to prop up the bloc’s
economies hobbled by COVID-19 restrictions.
“Time is of the essence, as the other colleagues have already said,
and swift approval of the plans will be key to ensure that our actions
at national level continue to interact and reinforce those of our
neighbours,” said Spain’s Calviño.
Le Maire called on the Commission to assess the plans “without
delay”, so they can be approved by the Council in July “at the latest”.
“This will allow the money to flow before the end of summer,” the French finance minister said.
National diplomats had questioned why the Commission needed two
months to validate the plans, since the institution has been discussing
the content with some countries since last October.
Some EU finance ministers are expected to request the European
Commission on Friday (16 April) to shorten the two-month evaluation
period of the recovery plans in order to speed up the implementation of
the long-awaited European stimulus.
The Commission, however, has been saying for days that it cannot
speed up the approval of the national packages to unblock billions of
euros to finance the European recovery.
The Commission’s chief spokesperson, Eric Mamer, said on Wednesday
this is a “complex process”, given the enormous volume of information
that capitals are sending, the work required to translate the proposals
into legislative texts, and the need to properly assess plans that will
spend €800 billion.
“We are not going to waste any single minute, but nevertheless we need a bit of time,” he said.
Mamer added that “it is fair to say that the Commission has been
doing its utmost, already until now, to speed up the process” by
discussing over past months the national drafts with the capitals.
And he recalled that setting up the recovery fund is a joint
endeavour, as member states must still complete the ratification of the
Own Resources Decision.
Eight EU countries have yet to approve the decision, although the
Commission foresees that it will be concluded by the end of May, so it
could seek financing in the markets in June.
The assessment of the recovery plans will take a bit longer. Once the
drafts are officially submitted, the Commission has two months to give
its verdict, and the Council, meaning the 27 member states, another
month.
As a result, the first transfers are not expected to arrive before
the end of July, if everything goes well, one year after EU leaders
agreed to create the recovery fund.
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