The moment was historic. In a lyrical flight, Charles Michel then spoke of“Copernican evolution”. On this day in July 2020, exhausted after four endless days and nights of negotiations, the then President of the European Council declared victory. Shaken by the first wave of Covid-19, the European Union (EU) had just taken a fundamental political step, by deciding on a recovery plan of 750 billion euros, financed for the first time in its history by a joint loan. Most importantly, some of the money was to be redistributed as grants (not loans), with countries most affected by the pandemic receiving larger amounts. To oversimplify, Germany agreed to give money to Italy and Spain. “This crisis is an opportunity to put Europe on its feet”continued Mr. Michel, in an interview with World.
Four and a half years later, NextGenerationEU (the official name of the recovery plan) is struggling to move forward: only 41% of the 750 billion has been paid to Member States by the European Commission. And yet, only half was actually spent on real projects on the ground, according to a partial assessment by the European Court of Auditors, published in July. “The Commission presented this plan as a major simplification of procedures, making it possible to speed up spending. Finally, the procedures are extremely cumbersome and there is a real risk that we will not be able to spend everything by 2026 [date de la fin du plan de relance] »regrets Eulalia Rubio, of the Jacques Delors Institute, a think tank.
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Source: Lemonde