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The turnaround plan for the European Commission in Brussels will remedy the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic and will ensure the future for the next generation, according to the State of the Union 2020, drawn up by the von der Leyen Commission, which emphasizes that "failure is not an option for the EU: the turnaround plan proposed by the Commission is unprecedented - both in terms of structure and ambition".
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who gave a speech in the European Parliament yesterday on the state of the European Union, said in the report: "EU unemployment is expected to rise to 9% in 2020, disproportionately affecting women, youth, unskilled workers and temp workers. Poverty, social exclusion and inequality are likely to increase, highlighting the importance of an inclusive and equitable recovery for all. The economy is expected to recover in 2021, but the outlook is uncertain and the evolution of the public health situation will evolve will prove crucial. Failure is not an option for the EU: the recovery plan proposed by the Commission is unprecedented in both structure and ambition".
The report states: "In the European Council of July, the EU leaders have agreed - based on the proposal of the Commission - on an entire block of recovery measures. That is made up of the long term budget of the EU, amounting to 1074 billion Euros, which was the object of an agreement from the European Council and which will be subjected to approval by the European Parliament, along with an additional amount of 750 billion Euros pertaining to the turnaround tool NextGenerationEU. This package will support the EU member state to start their turnaround, will facilitate public and private investments, with a particular emphasis on the double transition, and will contribute to the drawing of lessons from the crisis.
The Commission will borrow 750 billion Euros from the financial markets, channeling the funds to the EU member states, in the form of grants and loans. According to a model based simulation, it is estimated that the mobilized investments will increase the GDP of the EU by approximately 1.75 % in 2021 and 2022, and 2.25% by 2024. This wave of investments will create up to two million jobs by 2022. A recovery and resilience mechanism of 672.5 billion Euros will support investments and essential reforms in the member states through grants and loans".
The report also notes: "By reinventing its own manner of operation, the European Union rediscovers its true vocation. We have endowed the EU budget with an unprecedented ability for action. We have agreed to use the very good credit rating of the European Commission to mobilize resources which will be used by every member state, including by those that have the biggest need for financing, but a limited financial capability. In doing so, the European Union reanimates the idea of its founders: the prosperity of each European country depends on the prosperity of the other European countries. United, we are strong".
According to the report, the EU economy will drop 8.3% in 2020.
• Ursula von der Leyen: "The EU goal for carbon emissions will be revised upward"
Mrs. Von der Leyen announced in her speech, yesterday, that it intends to revise upwards the EU 2030 goal concerning the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions - currently downward -40% over 1990, to -55%. "This increase - which will have significant consequences on the sectors of energy, transports and agriculture, is too important for some and insufficient or others", said Ursula von der Leyen, ho said, however: "Our economy and industry can handle it".
The goal is part of a wider program to turn Europe into the first carbon neutral continent in 2050, meaning capable of ensuring a balance between greenhouse emissions and their absorption.
In this context, the plan of the European turnaround, amounting to 750 billion dollars, which the EU member states have agreed upon in July, will be financed 30% through green bonds. "We are doing pioneering work by drawing up a solid EU regulation in the sector of green bonds", the European official said.
Mrs. von der Leyen provided recent examples of natural disasters resulting from climate change, which include the crops destroyed by the draught in Romania.
The president of the European Commission said: "There is no need more urgent than to speed this up, when it comes to the future of our fragile planet itself. A good chunk of the international activity has stopped because of isolation. The planet has continued to become hotter, increasingly hotter. We have seen what is happening around us, fro the homes evacuated due to the collapse of the glacier in Mont Blanc, to the fires in Oregon, to the crops destroyed in Romania by the harshest drought in the last decades".
• Ursula Von der Leyen urges a "European Union of Health"
As the Covid-19 pandemic has caused dissipated national responses and has challenged the European solidarity, Ursula Von der Leyen has urged for a "European Union of Health". "We will create a biomedical research and development agency at a European level, such as exists in the United States".
The European official warned against the harsh global competition when it comes to creating a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, saying that "vaccine nationalism endangers lives".
"We have to make sure that all of Europe's and the world's citizens have access to the vaccine. None of us will be safe as until all of us are safe", the leader of the European Commission said: "We have to make it so our new program «EU for healthcare» stands the test of time".
According to the statements by Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union will call for a global summit next year, in Italy, in an attempt to prepare better for future pandemics.
• "The Brexit deal cannot be modified unilaterally"
Ursula von der Leyen yesterday said that the deal concerning the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, signed in January, cannot be changed unilaterally: "It is impossible for it to be modified unilaterally, for its terms to be ignored or no longer be applied. It is a matter of law, of trust and good faith. Trust is the foundation of any strong partnership".
Her statements came after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson proposed a controversial bill, which goes back on commitments undertaken through the Brexit agreement, in particular with regard to the protocol to avoid the recreation of a border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
"The EU and Great Britain have agreed that it is the best and only way to preserve peace in the Irish isle. And we will never go back on that. The deal has been ratified by this assembly and by the House of Commons", the European official said, adding that each passing day reduces the chances of reaching a new trade agreement with the United Kingdom. She drew London's attention to the fact that there was very little time left to reach an agreement by the end of the year.
• Eurodeputy Siegfried Mureşan: "The budget is the Holy Grail for us to meet our commitments"
European deputy Siegfried Mureşan (PPE/PNL) yesterday said, in the debate in the European Parliament about the State of the European Union "that now is the time to bolster the European Union even stronger and to make it stronger, more ready for the future". "A union which is more open, which is inclusive, which takes into account those who are in need, a Union where all of us win, where companies can innovate and develop, where countries help each other. And in order to get those things, we need the right tools, and the main tool for meeting our goals is the budget of the EU. The budget is the Holy Grail, which will help us meet our commitments. Without an ambitious budget, all of our commitments about ecology, computerization, supporting youth, farmers, better border protection, will remain just empty talk. And what should be done? The time has come to equip the European Union with its own sources of income - its own resources. That means that we will have a stronger Europe, more stable, more solid. We need to create our own resources as soon as possible, even starting with 2021, so that we can pay off the costs of the crisis and so we can give people what we have promised".
According to the Romanian eurodeputy, own resources means that we will be able to finance the traditional priorities of the European Union and we will be able to also finance the new priorities of the European Union.
"We will be able to invest in research, innovation, we can help the farmers, we can protect our borders. That means we will be able to offer what people expect from the European Union", Mr. Mureşan further said.
Ursula von der Leyen said that the coronavirus pandemic and the uncertainty which it brings aren't over, and Europeans "are still suffering and going through a period of heavy anxiety".
"Our priority is to go together through this trial", said Ursula von der Leyen, who added that the EU must continue protecting people's lives and their goods.
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Ursula von der Leyen has announced that the European executive will propose a bill which sets a framework for the minimum guaranteed wages among the member states, which Europeans will either get through collective deals, or by law.
He said dumping-level wages in the 27 Member States was no longer have no place in common practice, and a guaranteed minimum wage must exist everywhere in the EU. According to the European official, respect for the dignity of work is one of the objectives of his mandate.
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