“In the end, a compromise is needed. That’s the way the European Union is,” Kurz told ORF television’s ZiB on Saturday. Blümel insists on repayment
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) is ready to talk in the dispute over the EU reconstruction fund. “In the end, a compromise is needed. That’s the way the European Union is,” Kurz told ORF television’s ZiB on Saturday. But you don’t want a debt union in the EU. “And so the most important point for us is that there is a time limit (the Corona helpers, note).”
Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, which are also pulling together in the struggle for the EU multi-annual budget from 2021, presented a joint position paper on Saturday in which they advocated the payment of Corona aid in the form of loans. In doing so, they are opposing Germany and France, who have proposed a 500 billion euro fund of non-repayable grants. The fund is to be filled with bonds taken out by the EU Commission.
Briefly told the ORF that the four states “had a clear position”, namely that this aid had to be emergency corona aid, fast, intensive, unbureaucratic, but we did not want a debt union or a debt door through the back door “emphasized the ÖVP chief with a view to the demand for a time limit for the aid.
Blümel insists on repayment
Finance Minister Gernot Blümel (ÖVP) insists on a repayment of the planned EU Corona aid. “The European Commission wants to get into debt. The debt has to serve the member countries, because the 500 billion euros are paid out as grants and not as loans. That is out of the question for us,” Blümel told the “Kurier” (Sunday edition).
The planned EU reconstruction fund is “in principle (…) 500 billion euros more budget for the EU Commission, and the budget has to be paid into Brussels by the member states,” said Blümel. “According to this calculation, our budget contribution would not be one percent, but would be 1.5 percent.”
In the EU budget negotiations with the net payers of the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, Austria insists that the budget does not rise above the previous level of one percent of the EU’s economic strength. In the corona crisis, the EU heads of state and government agreed to create a reconstruction fund that would be linked to the budget and financed through borrowing from the EU commission. To this end, the EU budget ceiling is to be temporarily raised to two percent of the EU’s economic strength.
Germany and France have proposed that the money from the reconstruction fund should take the form of grants. Austria and its three net payer partners have spoken out in favor of a position paper for loans announced on Saturday.
(APA)
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