The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, called on the European Union on Monday 15 June, to affirm its leadership in responding to the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, at an online conference organised by Bruegel.
“The EU has a huge role to play. This is the moment for history for European leadership”, she said.
Kristalina Georgieva also underlined the merit of the EU for its collective action in the face of the crisis and in particular its proposal for the recovery fund, Next Generation EU (see EUROPE 12494/2). “I have no doubt there will be long nights of negotiations on this fund, but this is symbolically important as it is important financially”, she said.
With deconfinement phases now under way in several countries, it is time to look to the future. And one of the priorities will be to overhaul international taxation, to put a price on carbon as well as to think about how to tax the digital, she said.
While not advocating rapid change, Georgieva nevertheless argued for starting to think about modernising the international tax system.
Of course, there are still many uncertainties about the extent of the crisis. Even when there will be a vaccine, it is difficult to predict how tourism, transport or global interactions will be affected, the former EU Commissioner said.
But for Kristalina Georgieva, one thing remains certain: rather than turning to protectionism and unilateralism, “solidarity” has so far proven to be a much better solution. This certainty is reinforced by the uniqueness of the crisis, the only one that has been truly global since the Second World War, she said. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)