The proposal can also be seen as part of a more ambitious strategy to develop a European safe asset that drags down the liquidity premium that investors are asking for. Separately, Spain has proposed allowing the Commission to issue a portion of member countries’ debt on their behalf, helping to create a deeper common market for European debt. This could generate €25 billion in annual interest savings.
With Spain for the first time set to become a net contributor to the next long-term budget, we are more than willing to pay our fair share to help make the EU a global powerhouse that creates opportunities for its citizens.
The next framework should have a ceiling equivalent to 2% of EU GNI — enough to support both the economy and society.
That figure would still fall well short of the investment gap identified by Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta. But it would at least begin to address the concerns of investors and citizens.
The size of the next budget will send an important message to voters ahead of elections next year that will take more than half of the EU population to the polls. Populist far-right parties are making political gains by offering simple answers to complicated problems — and blaming the EU in the process.
Europeans need economic security. They need reassurance that their energy bills will not soar again and that their factories will stay open. In the most challenging decade since the Cold War, this is not the time for Europe to make itself smaller. Doing so would play into the hands of populists intent on dismantling the European project.
Through initiatives such as NextGenerationEU, Europe came together to provide much-needed economic security. It took a crisis to get us there. The task now is to build on that progress and get back on track before the next one.
