Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel video called this Monday May 18th, 2020 in order to talk together about “Europe’s economic recovery”. Paris and Berlin’s great initiative consists in a 500-billion-euro recovery funds as part of the loan made by the European Union on markets. This sum will be given to the 27 member-States to support the European Union and first sectors and regions in need.
As to know who will repay the loan, they answered that recipients will not, but it will be the European Union to do so, with a long-term due.
After this proposition to relaunch European economy, this meeting between the two leaders went on to health. They spoke about the importance to create an EU “Health Task Force” that has to “become our priority”. The stake? “Common stocks of facemasks and tests, common and coordinated buying power for cures and vaccines, shared epidemic prevention plans, common methods to report cases”.
According to Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, we must find “European champions” to uphold sovereignty and reduce our dependence to the outside. To do so, Emmanuel Macron stresses that European Union countries will have to “review competition law that is perhaps too focused on consumer right”.
As for the European Commission, it is expected to present this May 27 an economic relaunch plan for Europe with the capacity of borrowing 1,000 billion euros. So, with a European summit is said to take place soon to negotiate the importance of the borrowing capacity, the use of funds and the repayment modalities, the European Commission says.
Emmanuel Macron warns: “There is no agreement at 27 if there is no agreement between France and Germany”. The scheme will have then to be validated by the European Parliament.
