The European Commission has unveiled a draft version of its plan for the economic recovery of the European Union, a plan that includes an even more generous boost to the emergency fund for EU economies battered by the global financial crisis than had previously been proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
“Europe must confront the economic downturn with the same robust and coordinated approach we have taken on the financial crisis,” commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday (29 October), after an extraordinary college meeting devoted to the ongoing market mayhem.
As part of the commission’s plan – to be published at full length on 26 November – Brussels is proposing to more than double the existing financial facility used to provide loans to EU countries facing difficulties.
The fund’s ceiling currently stands at €12 billion. The commission is now suggesting it should be topped up to €25 billion. On Tuesday night, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU’s six-month rotating presidency until the end of December, had proposed a limit of €20 billion.
Budapest is so far the only EU capital that has recently put in a request for some of the bloc’s emergency lending, but EU economy commissioner Joaquin Almunia has indicated that more countries could follow suit.
“We know some other members of the EU are under stress in the financial markets and we are ready to act,” he said.
