(By Massimiliano D'Elia) The 27 heads of state and government agree only on one front: implement greater coordination on the emergency health aspects. On the rest they remain separated in a house made of cardboard and without foundations.
Yesterday, for the first time, the summit of 27 heads of state and government was held via a 6-hour river conference call. Subject of the discord, the measures to be implemented to mitigate the impact of another emergency that is already visible on the horizon, the economic one.
In front of the 25, only two they beat their fists on the "virtual" table threatening to do it yourself, the Italian premier,Giuseppe Conte and the Spanish one Pedro Sanchez. Conte called for "an adequate solution to the serious emergency that all countries are experiencing".
Most of the 27 speakers argue that the billions put by the EU institutions into the system to help the countries most affected by the Covid-19 emergency are few. Further stimulus measures are needed that are able to provoke a virtuous short circuit, even in the presence of the pandemic in progress.
The two leaders of countries bordering the Mediterranean they considered unacceptable the position held by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and by other northern countries that strongly propose the use of the bailout fund, the Mes, for further injections of liquidity to be introduced into the economic systems of European countries in difficulty.
The Belgian president Charles Michel, after hours in which the various proposals were pitted, considering that the situation was overheating, on input from the EU Council, he announced that the proposals of the finance ministers of the EU countries would have been awaited"they will have to submit proposals within two weeks that should take into account the unprecedented nature of the shock, so as to reinforce our response with further inclusive actions".
Belgian Charles Michel had proposed, at the beginning of the meeting, a stimulus strategy similar to the Marshall plan. A high impact strategy that Italian Prime Minister Conte and 7 other heads of state (France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia, Luxembourg), have supported with conviction, asking, in addition to the measures already announced by the ECB, EU and Bei Commission, unprecedented resources with budgetary policy decisions of similar audacity. The reference to a common debt instrument such as Corona-bonds is clear.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in the meantime, has already secured Germany with an extraordinary plan of over 500 billion euros, which can be raised up to 1000, to oppose the new Marshall plan (Corona-bond). To support the measure "Wring States", Holland, Finland and Austria. The Nordic countries are convinced that the interventions envisaged by the ECB, the EIB and the EU Commission will be sufficient and are inclined to draw on limited loans from the bailout fund (Mes), with stringent repayment conditions. The German chancellor then came out clearly showing her opposition to the Crown-bonds, the Teutonic government is inclined to use the Mes exclusively, which, according to them, is a tool, created precisely to deal with crises. Of course we all know, the ESM was born for economic crises in normal times. Today, our German friends should be reminded, there is an ongoing war that we are fighting against an invisible enemy, with blunt weapons. Therefore, "unconditional aid" is needed because it is difficult to predict the future which, by definition, is uncertain, let alone with the pandemic underway.
The appreciation for the position held by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at the virtual table of 27 is bipartisan. It is hoped that the Apulian lawyer will keep the bar straight also for the future because the name of the former ECB governor Mario Draghi is now on everyone's lips.