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The German government stressed Tuesday that it is not willing to discuss fresh EU debt via loans "at present" — but it left open the door to potentially endorsing such a plan later.
Bloomberg reported Monday that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz "will support joint issuance of European Union debt" to tackle the fallout from the energy crisis, as long as the money is issued as loans and not grants.
Two officials also told POLITICO that in response to widespread criticism of Germany’s €200 billion gas price relief package, the chancellor had indicated that EU loans could be an option to support partner countries that might struggle to set up similar support measures for their economies. Such a solidarity mechanism could be based on the SURE program that the EU set up as a first response to the coronavirus crisis in 2020 and which is based on loans that are underpinned by a system of voluntary guarantees from EU countries.
Crucially, Germany's fiscally conservative Finance Minister Christian Lindner does not rule out such a plan — although he said he does not believe this is the right moment for it...
more at POLITICO