Majority of EU leaders keep kicking the can down the road
European Council
On the outcome of today´s video conference of the EU heads of state and government Philippe Lamberts, President of the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament, comments:
“People in the European Union expect their governments to act and to show that we are all in this together and there is a way to get out of this together. When what people in the European Union need is a strong message of solidarity, there are heads of state and government shying away from their responsibility, delivering on a minimum level only, with major delay and in the end leaving it up to European Commission to take over. Again, a majority of EU heads of state and government do not take their responsibility and keep kicking the can down the road and this is toxic for the very idea of the European project.
“We need a big effort to tackle the economic and financial crisis with solidarity and a recovery package, including increasing the European budget, setting up a vast recovery fund and sharing responsibility within the European Union. As a package, all measures can achieve European financial and economic recovery.
“To keep the internal market functioning, it is crucial that all countries have room to manoeuvre. Mutualisation of corona-related debts means investing in the future of every European citizen collectively. If individual burdens increase, risk to the whole European Union also increases.
“The size and duration of the recovery fund are crucial and it must be under the oversight of the European Parliament. We support a huge increase of the Multiannual Financial Framework by up to 1.5 trillion Euros and making the EU the master of its own budget. Taxes on carbon, plastic and digital giants will stop the EU budget from being dependent on individual EU governments' good faith. Raising the own resources ceiling to 2% is a good measure and such a measure needs to be permanent.
“The European Union's long-term recovery must come hand-in-hand with the Green Deal and the Paris Agreement targets in order to make the recovery a sustainable one. The Green Deal needs to be at the core of economic recovery by serving climate, economy and social needs.
"We expect the European Commission to come with bold proposals because time is running out.”
