The schedule is tight: the economy is suffering in the Corona crisis. France and Germany are pushing ahead to get them going again. Macron and Merkel don’t want to make another mistake.
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Two days before the start of the German one EU Council Presidency Chancellor meet Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron in Meseberg. During their conversation in the Federal Government’s guest house, economic reconstruction in Europe after the Corona-Krise be a key issue. It is the first visit by a foreign head of state to the Chancellor since the outbreak of the corona pandemic. According to the Federal Government, other European, international and bilateral issues should also be addressed.
Macron and Merkel proposed a € 500 billion aid fund in May to bring the European economy out of the Corona crisis. EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen subsequently presented a debt-financed reconstruction plan with a volume of 750 billion euros. 500 billion euros of this is to be granted as grants and 250 billion as loans to EU countries. The debts are to be paid out together from the 2058 EU budget be paid off. The plan is being negotiated together with the next seven-year EU financial framework, for which the Commission is targeting 1.1 trillion euros.
Merkel and Macron promote this plan among the other EU member states. Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark – the “Frugal Four” – reject grants that do not have to be repaid.
The meeting with Merkel is important for French head of state Macron, because the 42-year-old insists that Europeans quickly agree on the European reconstruction plan. The Chancellor is his most important ally. Before the visit, Élysée circles said that Macron was very involved in this matter. Also for France, which was hit hard by the corona pandemic, is about a lot of money, Paris is hoping for 30 to 40 billion euros from the program.
Merkel also wants to reach a quick agreement, but sees that the differences are still significant. “The bridges we still have to build are big,” she said after the latest EU summit.
Lambsdorff: Means have to arrive in a targeted manner – not by watering can
The FDP foreign politician Alexander Graf Lambsdorff urged Merkel and Macron to set the course for the restart of the European economy at their meeting. “Germany and France, above all, must come up with compromise proposals for the European reconstruction fund, “said the deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag of the German Press Agency in Berlin.
“It is important that the funds from the fund are not distributed with the watering can, but instead arrive where they are needed,” emphasized Lambsdorff. “In addition, the relationship between grants and loans has to be renegotiated, which the ‘Economical Four’ rightly emphatically urge.”
Macron is looking for new momentum after the months-long Corona crisis. The former whiz kid resumes diplomatic initiatives. So he spoke to his Russian colleague at the end of last week Wladimir Putin about a possible new Ukraine summit. A next top meeting in the so-called Normandy format would take place in Berlin, it was said from Macron’s environment. The two top politicians in Meseberg should also speak about this topic.
After Macron and Merkel presented their initiative for the European contingency plan to deal with the Corona crisis in mid-May, there is harmony again between the two important capitals. However, there are still different opinions on details, for example on controlling the use of funds. So Paris wants similarities with the infamous “when reviewing economic reforms”Troika“from the Greek Debt crisis avoid. “We have to find a new system,” is the credo.
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