"I think we must keep on board" the proposals of Commissioners Thierry Breton and Paolo Gentiloni, "we must record them, take note. We are in uncertain times, we do not know how long the impact" of the war "will be on inflation and on the economy" .
This was stated by Dutch Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag at the end of the Ecofin.
Regarding the proposal for a scheme based on the Sure Kaag model, you stressed, as after the Covid crisis, "there are billions and billions available that we can use. I don't think it is necessary. We must free up the funds".
"We have discussed" the proposal for a replica of the Sure mutual fund "and I must say that there are divergent opinions. We must find a European solution to reduce spot prices" which "are too high".
This was reported by the Minister of Finance of the Czech Republic, Zbynek Stanjura, at the end of the Ecofin, together with the vice president of the EU Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis.
"After what was agreed last Friday we will continue to discuss - said Stanjura -, I know that it seems that the pace is too slow but it is not. Different countries have different energy mixes and different ideas of what needs to be done"
"We decided today to work on further temporary flexibilities regarding the remaining cohesion funds in the 2014-2020 funding period to use them in the context of the current energy crisis."
This was stated by the vice president of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, at the end of the Ecofin.
"RePowerEu and Recovery do not finance income support measures or similar, this requires different sources of funding," he explained.
SCHOLZ, ENERGY SHIELD? SOME COUNTRIES ALREADY DO SO
"It is necessary for gas and energy prices to fall".
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said this at a press conference with Dutch colleague Mark Rutte, answering a question about criticisms in Europe of the 200 billion euro shield to curb the price of gas.
"And some countries have already been doing for some time what we have set out to do for the next few years", he added, underlining that the package does not concern a short period but the years 2022, 2023 and 2024. A plan that represents a step " thoughtful and intelligent ".
Hungary goes on the attack of Germany
.
The announcement of the $ 200 billion expensive energy plan was "explosive news".
"There is no common European solution to help European companies, sanctions have been imposed on everyone, but there is no common financial fund to offset the effects".
This was stated by the Hungarian Prime Minister,
Viktor Orbán
, in a video posted on Twitter by his adviser, Balazs Orbán.
"The rich states will save their societies with large sums of money, while the poor cannot. It is the beginning of cannibalism in the EU", he said, urging Brussels to "do something" otherwise "this will destroy European unity. ".
'SURE IS REALISTIC VERSUS FRAGMENTATION'
"What we did with Sure during the pandemic was an interesting proposition" and that "loan-based model could be realistic".
This was stated by the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, on his arrival at the Ecofin meeting, specifying that the goal "is to increase solidarity to avoid fragmentation, and not to criticize this or that State".
"If we want to avoid fragmentation, we need a high level of solidarity and we need to put in place some other common instrument", he pointed out.
"The question" of a new joint debt issuance on the Sure model "requires further discussion because there are different points of view around the table".
This was stated by the Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, upon his arrival at Ecofin, responding to a question on the proposal to create a new common European instrument similar to the Sure, launched yesterday by the European Commissioners for the Economy and the Internal Market, Paolo Gentiloni and Thierry Breton, in an article published in various European newspapers including Corriere della Sera.
"Only a European response can protect our industry and citizens".
This was written
by Paolo Gentiloni and Thierry Breton, who in a speech published today in the Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung criticize the 200 billion plan launched by Germany to curb the price of gas
.
"Today more than ever we must avoid distorting competition on the internal market", they write.
"The fund announced by Germany is, on the one hand, exactly the answer that Europe needs. On the other hand, it raises a question: what does it mean for the Member States, which do not have the same room for maneuver as Germany? to protect their businesses and their balance sheets in a comparable way? "write Gentiloni and Breton.
"Today more than ever we must avoid altering the competition on the internal market - they continue -. We cannot start a competition for subsidies and thus question the principles of solidarity, unity, which are the basis of success in our European project" .
According to the two commissioners, "
The EU commission responds to the intervention of Gentiloni and Breton
.
"The editorials are personal initiatives of the competent commissioners. They do not commit the Commission", said the spokesman of the EU Commission, Eric Mamer.
"Obviously the president herself spoke of the need for European solutions and the protection of the single market in her speech on Saturday in Sofia," he stressed.
Contrary to Sure Holland.
"I think we must keep on board" the proposals of Commissioners Thierry Breton and Paolo Gentiloni, "we must record them, take note. We are in uncertain times, we do not know how long the impact" of the war "will be on inflation and on the economy" .
This was stated by Dutch Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag at the end of the Ecofin.
Regarding the proposal for a scheme based on the Sure Kaag model, you stressed, as after the Covid crisis, "
there are billions and billions available that we can use. I don't think it is necessary. We must free up the funds
".
