This morning [21 July], EU leaders agreed on an EU Corona recovery programme of €750 billion and on their position for a next Multiannual financial framework. In a commentary, CESI Secretary General Klaus Heeger determines the good and bad in the deal – and writes that while some winners and some losers are already known, only developments during the next months will reveal the full picture of who and what ended up on the winning and losing sides.

The 2 winners:
• European federalists that have tirelessly advocated a mechanism for the EU to raise a significant share of the budget by itself (own resources as opposed to, almost exclusively, Member State contributions) and to take loans on behalf of all Member States: Already in January 2021 new own resources through a levy on non-recyclable plastics will be put in place, followed by a carbon border adjustment mechanism and a digital tax as from January 2023. And the introduction of Corona bonds, even if they are of limited size and duration, opens precedence for permanent Euro bonds at some point in the future.

• Italy and friends: They receive 390 billion Euros of direct aid from the EU which they do not need to repay. It is less than they had hoped for and less than the European Commission and Germany and France had had in mind too, but it is still very much more than o€ that the Frugals had wanted and represents indeed a very significant amount of money. Not to forget the additional 360 of loans that they will receive on very favourable terms.

Read the full article here.