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Bloomberg
The European Union’s 27 leaders will be asked to consider a 2 trillion-euro ($2.2 trillion) plan for the region’s post-pandemic recovery on Thursday, according to reports.
The compromise proposal has emerged from a north-south squabble over how to pay for the effects of coronavirus lockdowns that is set to play out on a video conference. The proposal would partially use the EU’s seven-year multi-annual budget and also establish a new financing mechanism, the document said.
According to a draft outline which will be considered by leaders, the commission will integrate a 300 billion-euro recovery fund into the 2021-2027 budget and borrow 320 billion euros on the capital markets. In total, 2 trillion euros could be mobilised, the commission suggested, although it was not immediately clear exactly how the figures add up.
Southern EU countries led by France, Spain and Italy have wanted the EU to go further by introducing joint debt sales. But governments such as German and Netherlands have rejected going that far, even though analysts predict the euro area’s worst ever recession.