The debate over the European response to COVID-19 between MEPs and the European Commission on Thursday 16 April has led to a consensus over the need to wipe the slate clean and approach the future of the European Union with renewed budgetary, strategic and ideological ambitions.
In the opinion of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, only the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) will make it possible to implement a new 'Marshall Plan’ (see EUROPE 12460/5). She added that the MFF is known to Member States, is already in place and can be utilised quickly, and is an instrument for convergence and investment. She also believes it necessary to give “a boost” to the next European budget by structuring it around the European Green Deal (see EUROPE 12467/4).
The next Multiannual Financial Framework, which will be the subject of new European Commission proposals at the end of April, has been the focus of many interventions by MEPs. The four political groups supporting the joint resolution put to the vote today (see EUROPE 12468/2) all called for the Union to be ambitious, while remaining vague about the solutions and mute in respect of the figures.
Esteban González Pons (EPP, Spain) focused his speech on the architecture of European governance, which needs to be more “efficient”. For the Romanian Dacian Cioloș, President of the Renew Europe group, he believes it is necessary to do “whatever it takes”. The chair of the S&D group Iratxe García has advocated the mutualisation of debts, talking of 'recovery bonds' rather than 'coronabonds'. Even Raffaele Fitto, president of the ECR group, felt that the health crisis facing the Union would reshuffle the pack. For him, however, it would be “unimaginable” to build the recovery on the basis of the European Green Deal.
Pierre Larrouturou (S&D, France) urged Mrs von der Leyen to draw inspiration from the work of former US President Franklin Roosevelt. Under his mandate, the US federal budget tripled, with the Marshall Plan for Europe accounting for 4% of European GDP. Siegfried Mureşan (EPP, Romania) mentioned the need to set up a European fund containing tens of billions of euros to support European hospitals.
The vast majority of MEPs and the European Commission, as well as the President of the European Council, agreed on the importance of strengthening the single market in the future, a project to get out of stagflation launched by Jacques Delors, as the Belgian Liberal, Guy Verhofstadt, reminded us. Interestingly, the President of the Commission pointed out that the single market and Cohesion Policy, both of which should be strengthened, are “two sides of the same coin”.
Stressing the scale of the task lying ahead of Europe, Mrs von der Leyen invoked the Ventotene Manifesto—which advocated a socialist European revolution—and the 'Marshall Plan', a vast Keynesian-inspired American plan. Both of these were rather far removed from the economic orthodoxy that had often prevailed in the Union's policies until then.
As for the European Parliament, state interventionism and the need to relocate certain strategic productions has been mentioned many times by the left, as one might imagine, but also by several right-wing and liberal MEPs. The Vice-President of the Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, formulated the idea of a “more patriotic” Europe and mentioned the need to analyse the situation in order to “decide what we need to produce here in Europe”.
Two group presidents, however, called for a much more radical change. French MEP Manon Aubry, co-president of the GUE/NGL group, who rejected the joint resolution, was scathing about “killer” austerity policies and the need to put an end to the liberal "chatter”. The Belgian co-President of the Greens/EFA, Philippe Lamberts, said the virus is the death knell for “’homo economicus’, the “more and more, the austerity and the neo-liberal globalisation.
Rule of law. The Polish and Hungarian attacks on the Rule of law were also mentioned many times during the debate, notably by Mr Lamberts and Mr Cioloș (see EUROPE 12468/4). Mr Šefčovič also referred to them, giving assurances that the Commission was monitoring the two Member States “very closely”.
The future of the European Union will also be built in relation to China and the United States. The topic of China has been divisive in the Chamber, with some people, such as Mr González Pons, denouncing Chinese propaganda and its lies, to the astonishment of some people. “Propaganda, what Chinese propaganda?”, asked Marc Botenga (GUE/NGL, Belgium). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)