EU Executive Mulls 2 Trillion Euro Recovery Plan: Internal Note

Flags of the European Union fly next to flags of EU member countries at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on July 1, 2019. (Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Images)

BRUSSELS—The European Commission is considering a plan that would finance a European economic recovery with 2 trillion euros (about $2.15 trillion) after the deep recession the CCP virus pandemic is expected to cause this year, an internal note of the EU’s executive showed.

The note said both the EU’s next long-term budget for 2021-2027 and a new fund, called the Recovery Instrument, would be used to kickstart growth.

The note includes the Commission’s proposals for an EU leaders’ summit taking place later on Thursday. Officials warned the proposals included in the document could still change.

Under the proposal so far, the Commission could borrow 320 billion euros (almost $350 billion) on the market and then lend roughly half of that amount to governments.

The rest of the borrowing would be part of the EU long-term budget and be repaid by EU governments after 2027 over a long time, or be paid back through future additional income to the EU budget, such as in the form of new EU taxes.

Some of the money could be handed to member states as grants.

There would also be another 200 billion (about $215 billion) in the budget in a Recovery and Resilience Facility, and a further 50 billion euros (almost $55 billion) in re-purposed cohesion funds—money normally spent on equalizing the standards of living in the 27-nation bloc—that would be front-loaded to be spent in 2021-22.

The note said EU leaders could endorse legal texts for the plan in June to allow the Recovery Instrument to kick in immediately and the next EU long-term budget to enter into force on Jan. 1, 2021.

By Jan Strupczewski

Epoch Times staff contributed to this report.