Foreign Desk Report
BRUSSELS: EU countries will be able to launch the bloc´s coronavirus recovery plan in June after all 27 members approved the scheme, the European Council announced.
“The European Union is now able to obtain the necessary funding for the European social and economic recovery,” said Antonio Costa, the prime minister of Portugal, which currently chairs the Council. The Commission will now be able to go to the capital markets and borrow the money to finance the plan in the name of the EU members.
The EU´s landmark 750-billion-euro ($910-billion) recovery plan, known as Next Generation EU, was drawn up in July 2020. But it needed the green light from all 27 member states before the Commission could borrow in the name of the bloc.
The landmark fund for the first time creates a pool of common debt, shared between EU members, to lower borrowing costs for weaker members, a move that was long opposed by “frugal” northern states. “The governments and national parliaments of the EU 27 have shown a strong sense of solidarity and responsibility,” Costa said. “We cannot afford to waste more time,” he added. “We must ensure the swift approval of the first recovery and resilience plans by the end of June.”
