Commission officials plan €2T post-coronavirus recovery package

EU leaders will discuss the bloc’s response on Thursday.

European Commission officials are lining up a €2 trillion recovery plan to kick start the EU economy once the threat of coronavirus starts to subside, according to an internal note obtained by POLITICO.

The note comes ahead of a videoconference among EU leaders on Thursday, when they’ll debate how best to finance the bloc’s recovery.

“All told, the new proposals will be able to generate at least [2000] billion of investment and expenditure; heavily frontloaded and geared at recovery and resilience,” the two-page note said.

That would be financed both through the EU’s next seven-year budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework, and a separate and temporary “recovery instrument” that would use Article 122 of the EU treaties to raise up to €320 billion on capital markets.

“Approximately half of … this amount will consist of loans to Member States; the rest will remain in the Budget to be repaid by Member States after 2027 over a long time horizon or paid through future additional own resources,” the note said.

Commission officials said the note has yet to arrive in the office of President Ursula von der Leyen on the 13th floor. The proposals are still in the drafting process among technical staff, one EU official said.

The proposal will not be on the table for next week’s College of Commissioners meeting, but will be considered at a later date, another EU official said.

Lili Bayer contributed reporting.

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