Von Der Leyen words highlight ‘Deep disconnect’ between economic reality and EU plan – Mac Manus
Following EU Commission President’s Ursula Von der Leyen’s address today to the Parliament, Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus, a member of the EU Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, has said the Commission’s proposals shows a “deep disconnect” between economic reality and the needs of workers and businesses during the unprecedented economic crisis.
MacManus said:
“Today, after weeks of delay the EU Commission presented its proposal to fund the economic recovery. The proposals was as bad as feared by Sinn Féin and showed once again the deep disconnect between economic reality and what the EU is proposing.
“The entire logic of the plan is to only spend in line with the EU’s agenda. Unfortunately, we know from experience that this can mean austerity and regressive measures.
“Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen’s proposals was supposed to be about funding the much needed recovery. In fact, it reads more like a funding plan for the EU Commission itself with a raft of new EU taxes to go directly to Brussels. A stimulus funded by new taxes is not much of a stimulus. It’s effectively taking from one hand and giving to the other.
“This deliberate muddying of the waters, by folding the Recovery Fund into the regular EU Budget is a three-card trick. The normal seven year Budget had to be approved this year anyway but now it has been rebranded as part of the recovery. By blurring the lines the Commission has now left CAP and other social programmes vulnerable to reductions in real terms, as money is shifted sideways to the so-called Recovery Fund.
“At a time of such community solidarity and human endurance across Europe, the EU has failed badly to present a plan for a fair recovery. It has reverted to form with a self-aggrandising plan, pushing so-called reforms which put EU institutional needs above the interest of workers, businesses and countries fighting to survive a global pandemic not of anybody’s making.” ENDS
