The European Economic and Social Committee suggests setting up a large European fund specifically dedicated to COVID-19 to support Member States, in a statement issued on Monday 6 April regarding the economic recovery of the Union.
According to the EESC, this fund would represent the Union’s “war chest”. It would provide financial support to Member States to respond to the health emergency and to boost the European economy. The fund should be accessible to all Member States, which should receive equal treatment, the Committee says.
Furthermore, the Committee wants to reinforce the anticyclical role of the European Investment Bank (EIB) by confirming the European Central Bank (ECB) as lender of last resort. The Committee proposes that the ECB provide unlimited liquidity through “unconventional” monetary policies.
The EESC supports the European Commission's various measures, including flexibilities to use unspent funds, especially in cohesion policy, and the temporary European instrument to support national partial unemployment schemes (see EUROPE 12460/1, 12460/2).
Generally speaking, the EESC stresses the need to put an end as soon as possible to the obstacles to the proper functioning of the internal market, but also to speed up the implementation of the Green Deal. Above all, it calls for the creation of a “EU Health Union” to provide a European regulatory framework to respond “in a quick and coherent manner” to any future health emergency.
To view the statement: https://bit.ly/2V4lRJ7 (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)