The Portuguese Finance Minister, João Leão, advocated the adoption of the national recovery plans “as a package” by the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2021, during a debate with the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Monday 1 February.
Achieving this will allow the majority of the economies of the Member States to begin to feel the effects of the European Recovery Plan, “this year even”, considered Mr Leão, in response to a question from Dragoș Pîslaru (Renew Europe, Romania). He stressed the importance of identifying synergies between national plans through “joint projects”.
Member States have until the end of April to send the Commission their national recovery plans as part of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan. The European Commission will then have 2 months to analyse them before the EU Council takes a decision within a month.
Asked by Joachim Schuster (S&D, Germany) about the appropriate budgetary positioning to counter health spending and the economic crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Portuguese Minister reiterated that emergency aid measures should not be withdrawn too quickly in order to avoid “greater damage” both economically and socially. Certainly, “the subject of the sustainability of public finances will arise in the medium term” after a phase of strong support for the economy, he further indicated.
At the beginning of January, Mr Leão had said that the debate on the budgetary position at EU level for next year would take place in the second quarter of 2021 (see EUROPE 12632/22).
On taxation transparency, the Minister wanted the issue of country-by-country reporting to make “significant progress”. He mentioned that some Member States—such as Austria (see EUROPE 12643/29)—have changed their position, which he believes will allow progress to be made. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)