EU ministers argue about Corona aid package - now details leak to memorable night shift

This video session of the Eurogroup turned into a marathon. A lot is involved: Aid for crisis-ridden countries, entrepreneurs and employees for more than 500 billion euros.

• Corona crisis * : The German government rejects Eurobonds in order to help the wavering Italy .
• An anti- Germany mood is said to be spreading among the EU partner during the coronavirus pandemic * .
• Stock exchange supervisor Paolo Savona compares the behavior of the federal government with Nazi methods.

Update of April 8, 6.41 a.m .: In the dispute over the billion-dollar corona crisis package of the European Union, the finance ministers did not make a breakthrough on Wednesday night. Nothing has yet been agreed and it is still unclear whether a solution will be reached, it was said in the early morning from negotiating circles.

The negotiations conducted by video conference were repeatedly interrupted during the night to discuss new documents and formulations.

EU before tearing test? Negotiations on corona bonds interrupted - "one-on-one talks" necessary

Update 8:50 p.m .: The negotiations of the EU finance ministers about aid for financially weaker countries are difficult. A video conference started in the afternoon was interrupted for two hours until 9:00 p.m., according to a spokesman for Eurogroup leader Mario Centeno. According to information from EU circles, one-on-one discussions should be held and a draft for an explanation should be improved.

The ministers agreed "largely" on three short-term crisis measures , it said from negotiating circles. These are aid from the ESM Euro Rescue Fund, loans from the European Investment Bank EIB for companies in financial need and a European short-time work allowance proposed by the EU Commission. However, further discussions are needed on ways to get the European economy back on its feet in the long term.

In particular, Italy, which is hard hit by the Corona crisis and at the same time highly indebted, is demanding joint bonds from the Member States. In addition to Italy, such euro or corona bonds also wanted Spain, Greece and smaller countries such as Malta or Luxembourg. They would continue to be rejected by Germany and the Netherlands, but also by Austria, Sweden and the Baltic States.

Are the corona bonds coming? The Merkel government receives criticism from its own ranks

Update 5.44 p.m .: The EU finance ministers are wrestling over ways out of the crisis by video conference. Among other things, via Eurobonds. The federal government from the Union and the SPD now has to accept criticism from its own camp for its tough stance on this issue.

The long-time President of the Bundestag and today's chairman of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, which is close to the CDU, Norbert Lammert has criticized the German government's resistance to corona bonds. The fact that Germany "categorically refuses a common European bond has long caused more political damage than is expected from economic relief," Lammert told the Süddeutsche Zeitung on Wednesday.

With regard to "the extreme exceptional situation and growing despair in important partner countries," the impression of limited solidarity is just as economically risky as it is hard to bear in humanitarian terms, "criticized the CDU politician. Many objections to Eurobonds are "fundamentally justified" - but it is striking "that there are now prominent voices from politics and business in Germany, who advocate a factual and temporary bond in this situation".

EU before tearing test? Negotiations on corona bonds are ongoing - Scholz makes statement

Update of April 7, 2020, 4:20 pm: In these minutes , the EU finance ministers are negotiating aid in the corona crisis . It is already evident that no easy consultations are to be expected: due to difficult preparations, the start of the video conference had been postponed by 60 minutes to 4 p.m. The EU governments have been arguing for weeks about so-called corona bonds to raise common debts, which are demanded by Italy and other countries, but are strictly rejected by Germany.

Federal finance minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) gave the supporters of the bonds another rejection in advance: He was relying on a package of crisis aid from the ESR , the European Investment Bank and the European Commission , he said before the start of the negotiations. These are three "instruments of solidarity". In addition, the obligation to rebuild together after the crisis was important.

"I very much hope that we can do this today, but of course it's a big task," said Scholz in a video on Twitter. However, the Vice Chancellor made it clear that Germany does not want to make reform programs of the beneficiary states a condition for the ESM credit lines. "It's not about enforcing any economic restructuring programs," he said.

It is about providing help where it is needed now # Solidarity #Europe https://t.co/gtXWUDhKC9

Clash because of Eurobonds? Merkel is silent - but EU commissioners put pressure

Update of April 6, 2020, 7:55 p.m .: Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) also left out the subject of corona bonds in her declaration on the virus crisis on Monday - despite an apparently clear commitment to solidarity in the EU. But the pressure on Germany is growing in the dispute over common European bonds.

Germany and France are divided on Corona bonds.

© dpa / Frederic Scheiber

Before deliberations by the EU finance ministers on Tuesday, it was not only EU commissioners Paolo Gentiloni and Thierry Breton who campaigned for so-called corona bonds . The French government also campaigned again on Monday for a variant of these community bonds, which are to be used specifically to combat the economic consequences of the pandemic.

Corona bonds: clash between Germany and southern EU countries? Video conference on Tuesday

Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (both SPD) instead advertised on Monday in a joint guest contribution for several European newspapers for other common European instruments: the ESM euro bailout fund, the European Investment Bank EIB and the "Sure" program proposed by the EU Commission, which, like in Germany, is intended to finance short-time work in the Member States. There is a consensus among the finance ministers about the use of these three instruments.

The two German ministers also did not list so-called corona bonds - the Union in particular is against it. Italy, Spain and France and other EU countries, on the other hand, are demanding these joint bonds - because highly indebted countries may be able to receive fresh money from the capital markets at considerably more favorable terms.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has so far been reluctant to debate community bonds. Instead, it relies on the common EU budget for the years 2021 to 2027, which it plans to use for a “Marshall Plan” for Europe. The EU finance ministers are planning a video conference this Tuesday to discuss funds to deal with the financial consequences of the coronavirus crisis.

Because of no to Eurobonds: Italian politician attacks Germany - "The country that gives the orders"

First report of April 3, 2020: Munich - How profound will the changes caused by the coronavirus pandemic be for Europe ?

Politically, some observers fear a devastation within the European Union (EU) due to the devastating economic consequences, especially for Italy in the Corona crisis * - ARD-extra recently mentioned, for example, a separation between north and south.

There is probably no other point where the disagreements on the question of how to cope economically with the crisis manifest themselves as much as in the yes or no regarding so-called corona or eurobonds * . The Federal Government under Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) on Germany's part strictly rejects this, even if Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) at least does not appear to be completely averse.

The badly battered Italy and also France under President Emmanuel Macron, on the other hand, rely on European solidarity - the Italians in particular react frustrated and angry. According to media reports, a downright anti-Germany mood is spreading out of disappointment in the already heavily indebted Mediterranean country.

Italy in the Corona crisis: Giuseppe Conte diplomatic, Paolo Savona attacked

While Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte chooses diplomatic words and persistently campaigns for the financial support of the Germans, the controversial top politician, university professor and declared opponent of Germany Paolo Savona * , formerly Minister for Europe, resort to drastic rhetoric - and a Nazi comparison.

Persistently campaigns for Eurobonds: Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

© dpa / Roberto Monaldo

“They continue to use the same model of the 'radio plan' that came from the Nazi Minister of Economy. In it he suggested that Germany is the country that gives the orders. That all currencies have to be based on the German mark. That Germany is concentrating on industry and all other countries, including Italy , are taking care of agriculture, tourism and the well-being of the Germans, ”said the 83-year-old chief of the Italian stock exchange supervisory authority, RAI .

Corona crisis: conflict between Italy and Germany over Eurobonds

A steep thesis. But why do corona bonds polarize so much? The theory is that European governments go into debt together by borrowing money in the financial markets. Germany is considered to be much more creditworthy than Italy , which has long been in trouble - which is why the rushing Contes.

There should be joint liability for interest and credit installments, but the Federal Government of Merkel is rigorously opposing this approach. Savona is therefore raging - and is not alone in this.

Corona crisis in Europe: Italian actor railing against Germany

“The Germans still have their relentless arrogance today. Today in economic terms. They still consider themselves a male race, ”said the well-known comedian and actor Tullio Solenghi in a video that went viral on social media:“ Thank God I'm Italian. Yes, we should be loafers, also mafiosi, say the Germans. But we are empathetic, we are human. So thank you for being Italian and not German. "

The devastating economic imbalance that Italy is facing due to the Corona crisis does not at least solve this.

pm

* merkur.de is part of the Germany-wide Ippen-Digital editors network