The French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, indicated, on Tuesday 15 March, that the Ecofin Council had outlined “a common economic strategy” to respond to the impact on the European Union of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a military aggression that is causing great uncertainty and “a sharp increase in the prices of raw materials” and “certain food products”.
According to Mr Le Maire, this coordinated response at European level has three components: - “support for all households” affected by soaring fuel prices, notably through discounts at the pump; - “support for those companies most affected” by soaring gas prices and/or those most exposed to the Russian market; - EU “energy independence” from Russia to be established as soon as possible through diversification of supplies, building up strategic stocks and accelerating investment in renewable energy.
On direct support for businesses, the President-in-Office of the Ecofin Council cited three measures put forward by the Vice-President of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager: “state-guaranteed loans, direct aid for energy-intensive businesses and soft loans to finance working capital for businesses” (see EUROPE 12908/4).
In accordance with the sequence defined by the Versailles summit (see EUROPE 12909/1), the ministers did not at this stage discuss the advisability of creating a European financial mechanism to mitigate the economic impact in the EU of the war in Ukraine.
Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis recalled that under the Next Generation EU” Recovery Plan, “€200 billion in loans remain available until August 2023”.
According to him, these loans, whose distribution by Member State had been decided in September 2020 (see EUROPE 12562/12), can be used to strengthen the EU’s resilience by reducing its dependence on Russian hydrocarbons and accelerating investment in renewable energy.
Dombrovskis also stressed that Member States can take fiscal measures in 2022, as the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact remain frozen this year. On the basis of its spring economic forecasts, the Commission will say in May whether it confirms or rejects the deactivation of the general escape clause of the Stability Pact at the beginning of 2023. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)