אי.יו. מיניסטערס דאַרפֿן צו מעקלער אַ לייזונג פֿאַר אייראָפּע ס עקאנאמיע וואָס אַדזשאַסטיד וואָג און ערדזשאַנסי פון # קאָראָנאַווירוס פּראַל

Clashing editorials over the weekend with conflicting positions show how far apart the different countries remain, with the European Commission trying to bridge this divide through its own proposal.

Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton and Economy Commissioner Paolo גענטילאָני (former Italian prime minister) published a joint op-ed in לע מאַנד און Frankfurter אלגעמיינע צייטונג, the leading French and German newspapers, where they call on the 27 EU member states to demonstrate their סאָלידאַרישקייַט by creating a European tax-funded fund capable of issuing long-term bonds. 

Breton and גענטילאָני want their idea to be complementary to די פרעזידענט פון די עורopean Commission Ursula von der לייען'ד plan to make full use of the EU budget for 2021-2027, with the aim of reviving the economy after the crisis. As useful as the EU budget זאל זיין it is thought to be nowhere near the necessary scale to address the sharp economic downturn and the prolonged impact of the pandemic

Yesterday, in an interview with Brussels think-tank Bruegel. גענטילאָני said he was not פּראַפּאָוזינג די mutualization of debt, but the mutualization of סיללאַבוסs און missions for the next months and years. He געזאגט אַז די old discussions זענען נעגאַטיוו and that the EU needed to look forwards. 

גענטילאָני געזאגט אַז it was clearly distinct from אַ נייַ Marshall Plan, in that Europe would have to come to its own assistance and that the Marshall plan proposed in 1947 was not introduced fast enough at the end of the war.  It is unclear how this will overcome the concerns of a country like the Netherlands where there are strong objections not just to debt mutualization, but also to the current – very modest – EU budgetary proposals.

גענטילאָני and Breton are proposing a “fourth pillar" in addition to the other three: The European Stability Mechanism aid fund, the European Investment Bank and the recently proposed joint support for partial unemployment plans in EU member states.

Eight European countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg and Ireland have recently called on Europe to consider some sort of debt mutualization. French President Emmanuel Macron has said that if a minimum of solidarity will not be shown to the countries in need "then we accept that Europe has no common destiny". Also, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has described Coronabonds as "European recovery bonds", which he considers to be necessary to "finance the extraordinary efforts that Europe will have to make צו ריבילט זייַן economic and social tissue. "

Over the weekend the Spanish prime minister indicated that while Spain wanted to see mutualization, ‘Spain was also a pragmatic country’.

כויוו mutualization, אין דער פאָרעם פון a euro/קריינען/סאָלידאַרישקייַט bonds, is firmly rejected by Germany, the Netherlands and other countries, who took the same position in the course of the 2008 financial crisis. 

אין די זעלבע צייט German Foreign and Finance Ministers Heiko Maas and Olaf Scholz have also penned an לייט which has been published in several European publications in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. These leading German politicians from the right (CDU) and left (SPD) says that די דייַטש government will support a European crisis response package באזירט on the framework of the European Stability Mechanism, but which does not include the establishment of new European troika-like crippling conditionality, אָבער which draws the line at the issuance of bonds. This would make us of the Enhanced Conditions Credit Line (ECCL) available and proposed last week by Klaus רעגלינג, director of the ESM.

In parallel, in yet another editorial, the President of the French National Assembly, Richard Ferrand, and the President of the German Bundestag, Wolfgang Schäuble - known for his intransigence to the plight of Greece during the financial crisis - call for "more solidarity and financial integration [in Europe] ...We can and must mobilize and extend with all the necessary flexibility the European budget and the multiannual financial framework (MFF) and the whole structural, regional and social funds", as well as the European Investment Bank and the European Mechanism. for stability, wrote the two leaders of the parliamentarians in Paris and Berlin. This proposal appears to be more in line with that being proposed by גענטילאָני and Breton.

An agreement may not be fully hammered out today, but the are chinks of light. Leaders need to recognise the scale of the problem, the need for trust and the recognition that it is not only in their common interest but in every country’s self-interest to find a common solution that meets the scale of this challenge. 

Finally, leaders from north and south should reflect on the impact and the motivations of the Marshall Plan, it was not just an act of charity, the United States also needed to help its own economy, it also דערקענט אַז די דאַרפֿן פֿאַר פּאָליטיש פעסטקייַט אין אייראָפּע. Those two objectives are as relevant today as they were in 1947. Germany and the Netherlands will also suffer if the economy of Europe as a whole is weak, divisions will grow and the European project may not be done, but there is a growing and פאַקטיש threat from populists to the sort of Europe, the European Union represents.