Paolo Gentiloni suggests taking inspiration from the 100 billion portfolio against unemployment that the bloc created at the start of the pandemic, baptized SURE
The Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, suggested on Tuesday the creation of a new common fund financed with joint debt issues aimed at accelerating the energy transition and avoiding “fragmentation” between member states of the bloc in their responses to the crisis.
In line with the column published together with his colleague from the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, in a series of European media, including ‘El País’, Gentiloni underlined the need for the European Union go “one step further” in its response to the impact of the Russian war in Ukraine.
“If we want to avoid fragmentation, if we want to deal with this crisis, we need a higher level of solidarity and put in place common tools”he stated upon his arrival at the meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg.
Specifically, the head of Economy of the Community Executive proposed be inspired by the common fund of 100,000 million against unemployment that the block created at the beginning of the pandemic, baptized as SURE and whose aid is channeled to community partners in the form of loans.
However, the economic vice president of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, limited himself to pointing out the “divergences” that exist between the Member States when asked about the suggestion of his two colleagues.
“Requires discussion, opinions on this subject vary between Member States (…) There are different opinions on the table,” said the former Latvian prime minister.
In this sense, the Austrian Finance Minister, Hartwig Löger, said that it is the individual opinion of the commissioners and it seems that it is not the general feeling within the European Commissionso the issue will also be up for debate.
Löger defended, however, that take national measures in the face of the “European challenge & rdquor; which raises the energy crisis “It doesn’t make sense & rdquor; therefore, he advocated for common proposals, in particular, for decoupling the price of electricity from the price of gas.
The German Finance Minister, Christian Lindner, said that his country is in favor of measures at the European level such as joint energy purchases or the modification of the gas market, but considered that “the instruments that were put in place during the pandemic cannot be transferred one by one to a supply shock and a scenario of inflation & rdquor ;.
This crisis, considered the liberal politician, is “different from that of the pandemic & rdquor; since it is not motivated by a problem of demand, but of supply.
Gentiloni and Breton launched this proposal on Monday after Germany announced a macro-project of up to 200,000 million euros that it will allocate to finance a cap on gas with which it wants to lower the electricity bill of homes and companies, an initiative that has generated misgivings between the bloc’s partners but which Berlin considers proportionate.
The Commissioner for the Economy avoided “accusing this or that country” based on the measures that they “inevitably” adopt to support households and companies in their territories, while recalling that the aid must be temporary and specific for the most vulnerable.
This set of declarations comes just on the day that the Twenty-seven will try to unlock another 20,000 million with which to invest in energy infrastructure that will allow Moscow to get rid of dependence on fossil fuels.