One fund, 27 profiteers?

One fund, 27 profiteers?

What Corona does, in addition to illness and death, can be observed above all in Italy. The country, which had to contend with great economic difficulties even before the outbreak of the pandemic, is economically on the brink of abyss. Especially in northern Italy, the actual growth region with a lot of industry, car manufacturers and suppliers, production has been more or less at a standstill for months. At best, it will slowly get up and running again. Italy's industry association says it costs 100 billion euros a month and countless jobs. Even before Corona, there were ten percent unemployed in Italy, more than almost anywhere else in Europe. In addition, the country is heavily in debt and can hardly afford extensive rescue packages.

Tourism lies idle

In Spain, also badly hit by Corona, it looks just as bad. Both EU states also suffer from their idle tourism industry, which normally contributes a considerable part to the gross domestic product. But even France, which has been comparatively stable in economic terms, is facing a severe recession, and so is Germany, which is economically strong. Of course: This is the case in all European countries because of Corona, but some are worse. This is exactly what the EU Commission wants to help with with its € 750 billion reconstruction fund. The sum is to come from loans taken out by the EU Commission on behalf of all 27 member states. This has never happened before in Europe. The largest lump of money, well over 100 billion, is actually supposed to flow to Italy, the second largest amount to Spain. According to the plans, Germany will only receive a comparatively small double-digit sum, France a little more.

Embedded in the new household

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said today in Brussels: This is the moment for Europe. The crucial moment. The EU Commission wants to embed its reconstruction fund in the future seven-year budget of the EU under the heading: "Next Generation Europe". The focus should be on investments that focus on climate protection, digitization, research and education. In the ideal case, then, according to the Commission's ideas, much of the money that the particularly needy states are now supposed to receive will flow back into future-oriented investments, into universities, European exchange programs, and the restructuring of the economy and society towards climate neutrality. Whether the money from the fund will really only be available for such things - as a condition, so to speak - the EU member states will have to negotiate over the next few weeks. From the Netherlands today it was said: There is still a lot of work to be done. Negotiations could be long.