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Post-coronavirus: "Competition rules must be revisited"

2020-04-05T07:51:29.248Z


Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, believes that the way out of the crisis will be possible only through unfailing solidarity


Former CEO of Atos, Thierry Breton was, between 2005 and 2007, Minister of the Economy under Jacques Chirac. For him, the post-coronavirus will absolutely have to go through an industrial recovery plan in each of the countries of the European Union and through a European fund which will issue long-term bonds offering financing accessible to all.

What will be the economic consequences in Europe of the coronavirus pandemic?

THIERRY BRETON. They will be very severe. If the confinement lasts one month, we will lose between 2.5% and 3% of GDP and between 5% and 6% with two months of confinement. My top priority is to keep businesses alive. In 2008, Europe had taken more than a year to respond to the financial crisis. There, in the space of a week, the European Commission gave flexibility to states to intervene directly, exempted itself from the Stability Pact and the 3% deficit rule and the European Central Bank immediately put on the table 750 billion euros.

Donald Trump has adopted a $ 2.2 trillion economic support plan. Will Europe's effort be of the same order?

This is all our work with Paolo Gentiloni, the European Commissioner for the Economy. There was an urgent need to guarantee liquidity, now we encourage all European states to propose industrial recovery plans in the order of 10% of their GNP. In total, it could reach 1,600 billion euros.

European states are divided on how to finance ...

All European states, I mean all, are in debt and none can afford to finance such efforts alone. No more Germany than the Netherlands, Italy or France. Hence the need, in addition, to create a European stimulus fund which issues long-term bonds offering financing accessible to all. No European country should be left on the side of the road.

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Should we not also suspend the Free Trade Treaties to protect our industry from competition, especially from Asia?

It is out of the question to question our free trade agreements, because it is in this world that we live and it is also thanks to these exchanges that we will overcome this crisis.

Does this crisis call globalization into question?

There will be a before and an after, that is obvious. But no country can, alone, put in place a strategy capable of resolving the crisis. The solutions must be developed today on the scale of the continents, as they will have to be developed tomorrow in the "new world". To those who imagine the return in force of small states compared to large blocks, this unprecedented crisis demonstrates the opposite.

Should we not review the rules of competition to accelerate the emergence of European giants capable of ensuring our autonomy in strategic sectors?

Let me be very clear, this crisis certainly does not mean the end of the competition rules, which are essential to foster innovation and develop competitiveness. We should not expect major upheavals. On the other hand, these rules must indeed be revisited because the world has changed. And our priorities too.

It's incredible, but Europe is not competent in matters of health…

That's a fact. But faced with the scale of the crisis, the States have given a mandate to the Commission to supervise the stocks of drugs and medical equipment. For the first time, we have a global vision that it would be good to maintain after the crisis. The pandemic also demonstrates that too many drugs are manufactured outside Europe and I finally feel a desire to relocate these sensitive products as close as possible to Europeans. However, I do not think that health should be made an exclusively European competence. Health remains the sovereignty of states.

What do you say to Jacques Delors who warned that this crisis posed a mortal danger to Europe?

I feel closer on this point to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing who said that the EU would certainly emerge stronger. The impact of this crisis on the economy will be very heavy and to deal with it, solidarity is the key word. Solidarity between European states, between continents, also with China and, tomorrow, perhaps with the United States. And of course Africa.

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Source: leparis

All business articles on 2020-04-05

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