04/10/2022 (Agence Europe) – The French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, advocated, on Tuesday 4 October, for the creation of a new “European solidarity mechanism” to tackle the energy crisis, inspired by the ‘SURE’ initiative. To support Europeans forced to confine themselves at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, this initiative supported national unemployment insurance schemes through a €100 billion European loan guaranteed by the Member States. Mr Le Maire’s statement echoes the speech made the previous evening by European Commissioners Paolo Gentiloni and Thierry Breton, who also called for a similar initiative in the European press. Several countries are opposed at this stage, “not only Germany, but also Finland, the Netherlands and Austria”, said the director of the European Stability Mechanism, Klaus Regling. (MB)