On Friday 10 July, European Finance Ministers briefly reviewed the implementation of the three backstops approved by the Eurogroup at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic (see EUROPE 12488/1, 12494/20).
SURE. The Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, is hopeful that the first loans under the SURE instrument intended to support national short-time working schemes will be granted “after the summer”. He said that “many countries” expressed their interest in participating in the instrument managed by the European Commission, which will become operational as soon as possible and once the EU-27 have formally approved their national guarantee at the end of July.
Dombrovskis continued, saying that “the total loans requested look likely to be close to the financial envelope for this instrument”, at a level of €100 billion.
When asked by EUROPE about the number and identity of Member States, the Vice-President was no more explicit, but the German Finance Minister, Olaf Scholz, said that Germany would not use the SURE instrument.
EIB. Work is continuing to implement the EIB's €25 billion pan-European fund, which should be able to provide guarantees to European companies of up to €200 billion. The fund will become operational once the Member States, representing a total of 60% of the EIB's capital, have provided their national guarantee.
European Recovery Plan. In addition to the three backstops, as of Friday 17 July, European leaders will focus on the Recovery Plan for Europe, which will complement the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 on the basis of the proposal made by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, also unveiled on the same day (see EUROPE 12525/1).
Mr Dombrovskis called on Member States to start thinking now about the investments and reforms to be included in their National Recovery Plans. In this regard, the Spanish minister, Nadia Calviño, described the holding of a specific discussion on national recovery plans at the informal meeting of European finance ministers as an “excellent idea”; the meeting could be held in Berlin, if the pandemic situation allows.
Mr Dombrovskis also mentioned “October” as a deadline for Member States to “informally” request financial support under the European Recovery Plan, which he hoped would be operational by January 2021. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with Marion Fontana)