Brussels
The European Union (EU) aims to deliver the first grants and loans before summer this year to bail out the economies of its member states hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday.
Appearing with European Parliament President David Sassoli and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa at a joint press conference that marked the launch of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the bulk of the 750-billion-euro recovery fund, von der Leyen described it as a historic moment. She said it is the common goal shared by EU institutions to disperse the first funds by mid-2021, now that the Council of the EU, chaired by the rotating presidency of Portugal, has formally adopted the financial instrument worth of 672.5 billion euros.
The EU’s executive chief urged member states to speed up the national process ratifying the own resources. “The moment the own resources decision has been ratified, the commission will go to the market, raise money, and disperse, and we are able to disperse 13 percent in front-loading immediately,” said von der Leyen. The council of the EU on Thursday formally adopted the regulation that establishes the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which will help the member states to address the economic fall-outs of the pandemic through public investment and reforms.
The adoption of the regulation came a day after the European Parliament gave its green light to the recovery package.
Support will be linked to country-specific recommendations to address to strengthen competitiveness as well as social and economic cohesion. At least 37 percent of each plan’s allocation has to support the green transition and at least 20 percent the digital transformation. The launch of the recovery facility coincided with the publication of a new survey commissioned by the EU parliament which showed on Friday that the pandemic has strengthened the bloc’s citizens’ beliefs that the EU is the right place to develop effective solutions to tackle its effects.—Xinhua
