Germany's finance minister on Thursday firmly opposed new EU common borrowing amid calls for the bloc to come together as it did after the coronavirus pandemic to fund the defense overhaul.
In the face of Russia's war against Ukraine, calls are growing for the 27-nation European Union to pool its economic power and help rebuild its defense industry.
Supporters including France and the Baltic states say a program similar to the historic €800 billion post-COVID-19 recovery plan may be needed to prepare Europe for the threat from Moscow. claims.
But ahead of next week's EU summit, Germany's economically liberal Free Democratic Party member Christian Lindner reiterated his opposition to any new joint borrowing scheme.
“What we don't need is a new common European debt,” he told reporters at a meeting with EU officials in Luxembourg.
Advertisement – SCROLL TO CONTINUE
Germany's resistance to repeating anything similar to the coronavirus recovery plan, which is due to expire in 2026, is backed by other so-called “frugal” EU countries such as the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden.
Lindner said the solution to meeting financial needs lies in better mobilizing private capital in the region, and advocated progress in the EU's long-stalled push for a “capital markets union.”
Mr Lindner's comments came as EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned that a wider war in Europe was “no longer a pipe dream” and the EU needed to reconsider the concept of common debt. It was announced after.
Advertisement – SCROLL TO CONTINUE
“The pandemic is an existential threat, and we are using the treaty to have the possibility of doing what we are theoretically forbidden to do, which is to go to the financial markets and ask for funds,” Borrell said in a speech on Tuesday. We succeeded in avoiding this.”
“Is defense an existential threat today? Is aid to Ukraine an existential threat? If so, we need to think broadly. We need to think deeper, as we have in the past.”
alo/del/rl
