The European Commission will assist EU countries in easing the costs of temporary unemployment. The initiative will be presented on Thursday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced. The financial support is primarily intended for the hardest-hit EU countries such as Italy and Spain.
Within the EU framework, the Netherlands has proposed the creation of a special fund for the medical costs of the corona crisis. The Netherlands believes that this should consist of gifts and donations; not loans that must be repaid. Countries that are economically struggling could use these gifts to maintain their healthcare systems.
Some EU countries want to use the emergency fund ESM for severely affected countries. But "money from the ESM is a loan," emphasized Dutch Prime Minister Rutte. For structural support for economically weak countries, the Netherlands is willing to make money available from the ESM, but not unlimited and not without preconditions. The proposal from the European Commission to be presented today may be in line with this.
"The idea behind it is simple," said EC President von der Leyen. "If companies temporarily have no work due to the corona outbreak, they do not have to lay off their employees. According to various European media, the Commission wants to borrow around 100 billion euros on the capital market for this, for which the EU budget and the EU countries would stand as guarantors.
Member states can then receive favorable loans from the Commission. During the financial crisis, the daily EU administration also used the EU budget as a guarantee for cheap loans to Greece, Portugal, and Ireland. Later, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was established.
Dutch Prime Minister Rutte also wants financial support for economic recovery for EU countries but says he depends on countries such as Italy and Spain, which have a different arrangement in mind. "The difficult thing is that I want something, but Southern Europe continues to strongly push for those new eurobonds." The Dutch cabinet is not alone in its opposition to eurobonds. Those eurobonds are also off the table in Vienna, Berlin, and Helsinki, according to Rutte.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte hopes to speak within a few days with his Italian and Spanish counterparts about the heated dispute over financial support for these countries, which have been severely affected by the corona pandemic. Rutte hoped to discuss the differences with his Italian colleague Giuseppe Conte and their Spanish counterpart Pedro Sánchez on Thursday morning, but that did not work out. The video meeting, which will also include EU President Charles Michel, will now be scheduled as soon as possible.