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Brussels – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) has caused outrage with German Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) with her comments on possible new European debts. “It’s bad news that Ursula von der Leyen is suddenly talking about more joint EU debts,” said Lindner on Tuesday. Ultimately, these ideas would be at the expense of Germany, as more liability and redistribution were threatened.
Von der Leyen had previously told the “Financial Times” (Tuesday) that she was open to further joint borrowing if the priorities were clear. However, the decision about it would lie solely in the capitals of the EU countries.
For some time, there has been a debate in Brussels about new joint debts. France, for example, had advocated for joint debts, known as Eurobonds, for defense spending. EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni also recently argued for an instrument for investments, for example in energy or defense, which should be financed through joint debts. The Corona reconstruction program of the community of states could serve as a model.
The ongoing reconstruction program called “Next Generation EU” with a scope of more than 800 billion euros is intended to help EU countries cope with the economic damage caused by the pandemic. It is financed through debts, which are to be jointly repaid by 2058.
Lindner emphasized that the program had been decided by all member states as a one-time exception. In particular, the citizens in Germany had been assured of this by the CDU and CSU. “The change of course is absolutely unnecessary because the economic effects of the pandemic program are mixed,” he said towards CDU politician von der Leyen. (May 21)