BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th July, 2020) While deciding on a COVID-19 recovery fund, the European Union should avoid passing down "huge debt" to next generations, Thierry Mariani, a European Parliament member from France's National Rally party, told Sputnik.
On Friday, EU leaders hold their first in-person summit since the onset of the pandemic in a bid to clinch a consensus om the largest economic plan in the bloc's history, worth a whopping 750 billion Euros ($854 billion), of which 500 billion euros are planned to be issued in grants and the remaining 250 billion euros in loans.
"I'm looking for clarity on this stimulus package. Money does not fall from the sky! European Commissioner [for Internal Market] Thierry Breton, who has always been very honest, insists on a duty of transparency and poses like me the question of repayment of this huge debt. As proposed by the European Commission, young people aged 20 today will pay for 40 years and more," Mariani said.
The bloc thus makes "subsequent generations pay the price," the lawmaker added, arguing that it also means a drift toward a European tax in the future.
"There are two solutions: either the states will organize an endowment in proportion to their economic weight and reimburse, or else we are going straight to a European tax, prohibited by the Treaties today. Inevitably, this will be the 2nd solution. No country wants to pay the bill, as decided by other politicians two years before. From a certain date, we will therefore no doubt see a European tax appear," he stated.
The politician went on to slam the bloc's recovery instrument, Next Generation EU.
"The European Commission for its 'Next generation' plan is only recycling its previous projects, claiming that the future will be green and digital. But think of SMEs, of all sectors that have little to do with the green economy and digital. They are the ones who need help to survive and recover," Mariani argued.
The former minister in the Nicolas Sarkozy government also admitted that he now feels "a little guilty for having chosen debt" to get out of the "less serious" crisis of 2008.
"France, on the other hand, will pay more than the billions EUR it will receive in the stimulus package, as usual. Go talk to the French people about European solidarity, when they are anxious about their possible job loss," he said.
Europe remains divided on its adjusted 1.07 trillion euros long-term budget and recovery fund. The so-called Frugal Four group of European countries � Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden � oppose debt mutualization and believe that money should be issued in the form of loans rather than grants. France and Germany back the stimulus package.
