Nothing done atEurogroup su Eurobonds and State-saving fund (Month). After a 16-hour video meeting that began on Tuesday afternoon and continued into the night amid interruptions and quarrels, the economy ministers of the euro area have not produced any common document to be entrusted to the European Council. The meeting is adjourned to Thursday, in the hope that in these hours the talks between the technicians will be able to find a compromise capable of saving face for all countries.
At the moment, the only measures on which there is agreement are the 200 billion intervention by the The and sure fund from 100 billion for a sort of European redundancy fund. For the rest, the line-ups are the same as always, but with a new (and significant) shift of France to Germany. Paris and Berlin have in fact aligned on every aspect. According to Ansa, the two ministers Le Maire and Scholz had reached an agreement on the text of the conclusions, but during the night they failed to convince their colleagues to sign it. The Franco-German draft provided for the possibility of an appeal to the Mes with ultra-light conditionality and a reference to the birth of a new Solidarity Fund, the road proposed by Emmanuel Macron to arrive at a surrogate of Coronabonds also acceptable for the Northern Front.
“We talked about a Recovery Fund to be developed – Scholz said – and we need to agree on the organization criteria. This will have to be the work of the next few weeks and months”.
The most intransigent position continues to be that of Holland. “The Mes is a lender of last resort and in our opinion the use of this fund must take place with some form of conditions. Due to the current crisis, we have to make an exception and the ESM can be used unconditionally to cover medical costs – Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra wrote on twitter – But for long-term economic support, I think it makes sense to combine the use of the Mes with certain economic conditions”.
As for Eurobonds, Hoekstra wrote that “Holland was and remains against it, because it increases the risks for Europe instead of reducing them. Most of the countries of the Eurozone support this line”. The rigid Dutch position is linked to the very narrow majority in the Rutte government and to the approaching of the next legislative elections.
On the other side of the fence is Italy. Conte asked Minister Gualtieri to maintain a rigid line: Rome continues to reject the Mes - unless the conditionalities are completely reset - and above all continues to reject any draft compromise in which there is no explicit mention of community bonds (Eurobonds , Coronabonds, European Recovery Bonds and more).
