Brussels, April 15 : The European Commission announced that it would borrow 800 billion euros from the capital market in current prices until 2026 to fund the European Union’s (EU) massive plan to bail out its Covid-stricken economy.
A diversified funding strategy was created to ensure that the ember states of the bloc would receive loans under the package known as the NextGenerationEU at an advantageous rate, reports Xinhua news agency.
The EU has set December 2058 as a deadline for itself to fulfil all the repayment, and plans to generate new own resources to strengthen the repayment capability.
Making the announcement at a press conference on Wednesday, European Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn also urged EU member states which have not ratified the Own Resources Decision to do so as soon as possible.
“The message is clear: as soon as the Commission has been legally enabled to borrow, we are ready to get going,” said Hahn.
So far, Germany, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Finland, Romania, the Netherlands, Ireland and Lithuania have not ratified the Decision.
All other 17 have ratified it, according to Hahn.
The EU has decided to release a historic stimulus package worth 1.8 trillion euros in 2018 prices, or over two trillion euros in current prices, to help the bloc tackle the economic fallout of the pandemic and achieve a greener and more digital recovery.(IANS)
