The Green Deal has become an even more essential policy to respond to the looming socio-economic recession due to the Covid-19 pandemic and an unintended opportunity “not to return to the past” argues the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), the think-tank of the social democratic political family at EU level, in a new report published on Monday 27 April.
“The European Green Deal must [...] be central to the design of the European Recovery Fund as well as the revised MFF [Multiannual Financial Framework]”, said the FEPS President, Maria João Rodrigues.
Furthermore, while the FEPS stresses the potential of the Green Deal in terms of creating new jobs in sustainable sectors, the report warns: “For social benefits to materialise, the Green Deal must be designed and implemented by putting fairness and equity at its very core”.
To reach this goal, the report suggests, inter alia: (1) to implement a policy of green quantitative easing; (2) to exempt investments necessary for climate mitigation, adaptation or a just transition from the fiscal rules in the Stability and Growth Pact; (3) to increase the ambition of the Just Transition Mechanism with new resources through a “green financial transaction tax”.
To consult the report: https://bit.ly/3aNHHGx (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)