On the initiative of Aurore Lalucq (S&D, France), 83 MEPs sent a letter to European Council President, Charles Michel, on Wednesday 11 March, calling on him to promote a revision of the Stability and Growth Pact to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
According to these MEPs, mainly from the S&D, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL groups in the European Parliament, such a measure is essential to allow Member States the budgetary room for manoeuvre needed to deal with the health crisis and economic slowdown caused by COVID-19.
"We need to invest now in our public infrastructure in order to prevent further spreading of this crisis," the signatories urge, saying the European Central Bank (ECB) cannot act alone.
Convinced that the failure of Member States "to test and treat the European population as we should" is the result of chronic under-investment in public infrastructure, MEPs call on the European Council "to support a massive and coordinated response to this crisis on the budgetary level". And in conclusion: "This answer goes through a revision of the 'Stability and Growth Pact’".
While the ECB announced measures to counter the risks the virus poses to the economy (see EUROPE 12445/1), German Chancellor Angela Merkel had hinted, on Wednesday 11 March, that she was ready to abandon the national zero budget deficit rule to face the pandemic (see EUROPE 12444/9).
See the letter: http://bit.ly/39Q3he0 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)