To ensure that European citizens continue to support the European Union’s macroeconomic and military assistance to Ukraine, beset by the Russian invasion, strong short-term action is needed to address the socioeconomic consequences for the EU of the war in Ukraine, says the European Parliament in a resolution adopted on Thursday 19 May.
MEPs welcome the flexibility of existing financial instruments (EU budget, Next Generation EU recovery plan, cohesion policy) to help Europeans welcome refugees fleeing Ukraine or to support households and businesses facing soaring energy prices.
However, believing that these initiatives will not be enough in a worsening economic context, the Parliament calls for the creation of a Strategic Autonomy Fund for Europe to reduce the EU’s energy dependence, finance renewable energy production and energy efficiency, and strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy. The overall amount of such a fund should be established after a clear assessment of the costs and investment deficits.
But on Thursday morning, a diplomatic source said that many Member States, such as the Netherlands, the Nordic countries, and Germany, did not want to hear about creating new debt at EU level when the current temporary instruments are not all used up. On the previous evening, the European Commission suggested using €200 billion in uncommitted loans from the European Recovery Plan to finance the REPowerEU strategy to reduce energy dependency (see EUROPE 12955/4).
MEPs also welcome the temporary taxation of windfall profits currently being made by energy companies to alleviate the social and economic consequences for the EU of the war in Ukraine.
Earlier in the morning, Pedro Marques (S&D, Portugal) told some journalists that at EU level, “between €90 and €100 billion” could be raised by Member States.
Gerhard Schröder is explicitly targeted. The resolution “urges” European public figures on the boards of Russian groups to resign from their lucrative positions, such as former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The latter has just been deprived of benefits such as the use of office space.
“It is unacceptable that this situation continues”, said Marques, praising the S&D group’s support on this “moral” issue.
The Parliament also calls on the EU Council to extend the list of persons subject to sanctions to include these public figures, a list of whom will reportedly be drawn up.
None of the eight amendments of The Left group were adopted. One amendment called for the creation of a global financial register to shed light on the wealth of Russian oligarchs and others that is hidden in tax havens.
See the adopted resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/1q1 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)