The Next Generation EU fund complements the European budget and will be used to address the post-coronavirus emergency. WWF: “Insufficient measures on climate.”.
To support the economies of member states, severely hit by the coronavirus crisis, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented a new emergency economic support instrument. Named Next Generation EU, it aims to provide financial support for investment in the early years of recovery, which will be the crucial ones for the entire European Union.
The figure announced is €750 billion, of which €500 billion in grants and only €250 billion in the form of loans. These allocations will be channelled through dedicated European Union programmes, with the aim of guaranteeing immediate measures capable, in the intentions of the Brussels executive body, of relaunching the economy and fostering sustainable and resilient growth.
This is a particularly large sum: more than what was proposed by heads of state such as Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Emmanuel Macron. Italy, the country hardest hit by the crisis, will receive the largest share of the fund, which in practice nominally replaces the recovery fund, as it had always been called until now: our country will have €209 billion at its disposal, of which just under half in grants.
"The boldest proposals are the safest ones," commented von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, announcing this morning the proposal for the Next Generation EU fund, which will be added to the €1,100 billion already envisaged in the multiannual EU budget, for a total of €1,850 billion. For the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, this represents "a European turning point in facing an unprecedented crisis".
According to non-governmental organisations, however, the plan may not be enough, especially from an environmental and climate perspective. "What President von der Leyen has declared," observed Ester Asin, director at WWF, "shows that an effort is being made to honour the Commission's commitment to making the Green Deal the 'engine' of economic recovery. Unfortunately, however, the measures are still insufficient and the recovery is at a standstill. In particular, there is a lack of clear mechanisms to implement and enforce green conditionalities and to ensure that funds allocated to member states are not used for activities harmful to the environment, such as those that favour fossil fuels or the construction of new airports and motorways."
According to the environmental organisation, "many more actions will still be needed to keep environmental and climate promises. Thousands of young people want much more: a complete overhaul of our relationship with nature and the problem of climate change. European Union member states and Members of the European Parliament must now ensure that our economic recovery is truly green and fair, not just on paper."
