Excellencies, I am delighted to be participating today at the P4G Summit in Seoul. Indeed, recovering from the pandemic it i.
European Commission Press release Brussels, 31 May 2021 Today, the European Commission has proposed an update to the Council Recommendation on the coordination of free movement restrictions in the EU, which were put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
European Commission Press release Brussels, 31 May 2021 Today, the European Commission provides guidance on the EU rules on single-use plastics and adopts an Implementing Decision on the monitoring and reporting of fishing gear placed on the market and waste fishing gear collected.
Met dank overgenomen van Europese Commissie (EC), gepubliceerd op dinsdag 1 juni 2021.
Following the approval of the Own Resources Decision by all EU Member States, the Commission can now start raising resources to finance Europe s recovery through NextGenerationEU. To that end, the European Commission has today announced its estimates to issue around €80 billion of long-term bonds in 2021, to be topped up by tens of billions of short-term EU-Bills to cover the remaining financing requirements. The exact amount of both EU-Bonds and EU-Bills will depend on the precise funding needs, and the Commission will revise today s assessment in the autumn. In this way, the Commission will be able to fund, over the second half of the year, all planned grants and loans to Member States under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, as well as cover the needs of the EU policies that receive NextGenerationEU funding.
The EU has responded forcefully to the economic crisis brought about by COVID-19. The ECB’s aggressive easing and exceptional national fiscal stimulus measures have been complemented by unprecedented action at the EU level, thereby providing extensive support to vulnerable member states and broadening fiscal space.
Exigent circumstances justify exigent measures. But while responding strongly and effectively to the imminent risk of something resembling the euro crisis, the COVID-19 measures risk leaving the EU more vulnerable in the longer run. While explained as exceptional and temporary, they transform the EU into an incomplete fiscal union, which is fragile in the face of future shocks. These measures need to be balanced with strengthened market discipline and – ultimately – backed up by clear divisions of competence, unambiguous assignment of responsibility, and efficient decision-making structures.
The European Commission confirmed on Monday (31 May) that it will start borrowing the €800 billion needed to finance the recovery fund in June, after all member states gave their approval to the issuance of EU debt which is on an unprecedented scale.