Today a pro-European majority of the coordinators of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, together with the committee chairwoman, issued a press release on the European response to the economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus. MEPs call for stronger measures at European level than those agreed by euro finance ministers on Monday. In particular, they call for a new dedicated instrument of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to provide financial support to euro countries that have been hit particularly hard. This is in line with the key demand of Monday’s appeal by Green MEPs to the Eurogroup.
MEP Sven Giegold, financial and economic policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group commented:
“An ESM credit line would be a strong signal of support for euro countries particularly affected by the corona crisis. Across political groups, we call for stronger measures than those presented by the euro finance ministers on Monday. In view of this serious crisis, Real European solidarity on a medical and financial level is now needed to prevent a deep division in the eurozone.”
Link to the ECON coordinators’ press release: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20200317IPR75105/covid-19-statement-by-the-econ-chair-and-the-majority-of-political-coordinators
Link to the Greens’ letter to the Eurogroup:
https://sven-giegold.de/open-letter-to-the-eurogroup-coronavirus/
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Text of the coordinators’ press release:
COVID-19: Statement by the Chair and the majority of political coordinators of the Economic and Monetary affairs committee
The Chair and the majority of coordinators welcome the first steps taken by EU institutions and Member States to counter the COVID-19 pandemic but call for further and stronger actions.
“The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a great challenge for all our citizens, health care workers, public administrations, businesses but also for financial institutions and the overall stability of the Euro area.
“We welcome the first set of measures taken by the Commission, the Eurogroup, the European Central Bank, including the Single Supervisory Mechanism, and the European Banking Authority, but call for further initiatives, leveraging all possible instruments that could be used to counter the negative impact on the EU economy.
“We also call on all Member States to take further bold actions, including the possibility of setting up a dedicated instrument within the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and with specific rules for providing additional funding to Member States severely hit by the outbreak of the COVID-19.
“Furthermore, we also emphasise that a common European response is urgently needed to ensure stability and to avoid the fractioning of the European financial system and of the internal market.
“The Economic and Monetary affairs committee stands ready to work expeditiously on all initiatives aimed to counter the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Chair: Irene Tinagli (S&D, IT)
Coordinators of the political groups:
Markus Ferber (EPP, DE),
Jonás Fernández (S&D, ES),
Luis Garicano (Renew, ES),
Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA, DE)