The EU ‘cannot fail’ to deliver
New Marshall Plan needed to bolster damaged economies
PRIME Minister Pedro Sánchez and Valencia president Ximo Puig have called on the European Union to provide the tools to allow member states to recover from the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
Both politicians stressed that the EU has to pull out all the stops to save countries from ruin – with a clear reference to the 2008 economic crisis when European institutions were accused of abandoning some Mediterranean countries to their fate.
Sr Sánchez said in a press conference at the weekend: “Europe cannot fail this time round.
“We need unity in Spain and also in Europe.
“This is the biggest crisis of our lifetimes which will either lead to a strengthening or weakening of the EU.”
He noted that countries needed ‘full support’ from European institutions so they can protect their citizens against the ‘calamity’ created by coronavirus.
This should be done by ensuring that governments have the tools at their disposal to allow ‘economic fluidity’ and increase public debt.
Sr Sánchez has called for Euro bonds to be created to give countries the credit they need to help businesses and workers and provide the necessary economic stimulus.
He said the EU should launch a second Marshall Plan to reactivate the European economy, in reference to the European Recovery Programme passed in 1948 in which the United States transferred billions of dollars to fund economic measures for Western European economies following the Second World War.
Valencia’s Ximo Puig lent his support to the call for a ‘Marshall Plan’.
He has sent a letter to the presidents of the European regions association asking for their backing for the initiative.
He said this would help to ‘refloat’ the economies which have been worst hit by the virus.
Sr Puig noted that all the regional governments in Spain have agreed that the EU ‘has to provide the exit from the crisis’.
He added that the future of the Union was in the balance.
“It has to be more than just an internal market,” he said.
The fact that the European Central Bank and the European Commission has stumped up €100 billion in direct aid for damaged economies was a good start, he said.
However, in the next two weeks the EU would have to set out a robust plan to tackle the crisis, he stated.