The European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, defended this Tuesday the creation of a temporary European mechanism, based on loans on favorable terms, so that the countries of the European Union (EU) support families and companies due to the energy crisis.
“If we want to avoid fragmentation, if we want to face this crisis, I think we need a higher level of solidarity and we need to implement some more common instruments and, for example, what we did with the SURE mechanism during the pandemic was an interesting proposal,” he said. Paolo Gentiloni.
Speaking to journalists upon arrival at the meeting of EU Economy and Finance Ministers (Ecofin), in Luxembourg, the European official recalled that the SURE program, used to deal with the Covid-19 crisis, is “ based on loans”, granted in favorable conditions to the EU countries that request this aid.
Announced in April 2020 due to the pandemic, this new financial instrument stipulated a total of 100,000 million euros for the 27 Member States to support companies and the self-employed to maintain jobs and income, functioning as temporary unemployment (through the Reduction of the working day). hours) in order to safeguard jobs.
“I think that [um mecanismo temporário deste género para enfrentar a crise energética] could be realistic”, stressed Paolo Gentiloni today.
“Of course, this is not something that we are going to discuss today, but I want to make it very clear that our objective is to increase solidarity, avoid risks of fragmentation and not criticize this or that Member State,” said the European Commissioner for the Economy.
The position comes after, at Monday’s Eurogroup meeting, the impact on the EU as a whole of Germany’s new “bazooka”, a package of 200,000 million euros in aid to German families and companies to deal with high energy prices, particularly gas. , due to the current crisis, accentuated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“We are not blaming the countries, we are not discussing the fact that isolated countries and member states are inevitably supporting their economies, but of course we are asking that the measures be temporary and targeted,” Paolo Gentiloni said, speaking on arrival at the Ecofin Meeting.
The official concluded that “the issue is not to criticize any member state, but to seek the possibility of taking a few more steps”, so this new instrument similar to SURE could be a solution, in his opinion.
On Monday, the Eurogroup rejected “broader support” for single currency economies in 2023 due to the acute energy crisis and high inflation, instead suggesting targeted measures and proposing lower energy consumption to stabilize prices.
Last Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the reactivation of the economic stabilization fund used during the Covid-19 pandemic and the financial crisis to now limit the price consumers pay for gas used to heat homes, generate electricity and supply factories.
These days, the European Commission is preparing a proposal to advance in the EU with ceilings on gas prices, but according to European sources, this measure is opposed by Germany, which in turn is advancing with large budgetary measures for its economy.
Geopolitical tensions over the war in Ukraine have affected the European energy market, especially as the EU relies on Russian fossil fuels, such as gas, and fears supply cuts this fall and winter.
Source: TSF
