15 July 2020

POLITICO: The coronavirus recovery plan that von der Leyen built

COVID-19 rescue effort puts her legacy on the line. Her first public announcement of a massive response to the coronavirus crisis was made in a reflexive panic, on a Saturday night in late March, as she came under a barrage of criticism from Italy.

The European Commission president was already under severe pressure over the EU’s haphazard initial response to the health crisis — even though much of the blame lay with national capitals that reacted unilaterally, slamming borders shut and refusing even to come to Italy’s assistance when Rome initially requested help with protective gear.

A disastrous EU leaders’ summit — held by videoconference because of coronavirus lockdowns — had descended into a shouting match two days earlier, adding to the sense of chaos.

But that Saturday, March 28, anger suddenly exploded in Italy after the German news agency DPA published an interview in which von der Leyen dismissed corona bonds — a recovery instrument favored in Rome — as a “slogan.”

That set off a cascade of criticism, including a demand for “a clarification” from European Parliament President David Sassoli, an Italian. Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, also lashed out, saying: “Europe needs to show whether it can live up to this call of history.”

The Commission rushed out a rare Saturday night statement. “To ensure recovery the Commission will propose changes in the [EU’s long-term budget] that will allow to address the fallout of the coronavirus crisis. This will include a stimulus package that will ensure that cohesion within the union is maintained through solidarity and responsibility.”

The news that von der Leyen had reached a decision on how to proceed came as a surprise even to some of the highest-level staffers who had been developing her options for responding to the crisis. But the haste of the announcement also masked the planning and preparation already well underway in the executive suite of the Berlaymont.

Up until that Saturday, no final decision had been made. Von der Leyen had earlier considered three options. The first was a temporary war budget that would effectively delay negotiations on the EU’s traditional seven-year financial blueprint — the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) — in favor of a one- or two-year emergency budget focused on the coronavirus response.....

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