On Tuesday 31 March, German Social Democrats in the European Parliament set out their vision for a European response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its socio-economic consequences, with the principle of “solidarity” at its heart.
Supporting all the unprecedented measures already taken in budgetary, economic and monetary terms at a European level, MEPs are advocating the granting of credit lines by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM)—the euro area rescue fund—to countries facing difficulties up to a maximum of 2% of their GDP, with no other conditions in place other than that of using the funds exclusively to combat Coronavirus.
Trying to get out of the “ideological battles” over 'Coronabonds’, the SPD is not opposed to the idea of the ESM or EIB issuing financial products designed to promote social and ecological modernisation in the EU.
We will not forget that the societies most affected by the Coronavirus are those that were hit hardest by the austerity policies after the financial crisis of 2008, the German Social Democrats stressed. They want the principle of having efficient and accessible national health systems to be anchored within the budgetary process of the 'European Semester'.
View the proposal by SPD elected representatives to the European Parliament: https://bit.ly/2wTVPQS (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)