Labour MEP Alfred Sant has told the European Parliament that the Recovery Plan for Europe will most likely not be enough to contain the as yet unforeseeable consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In an extraordinary plenary debate on Thursday, MEPs discussed the conclusions of the extraordinary European Council meeting of 17-21 July 2020 concerning the budget of the EU and adopted a resolution on the Multiannual Financial Framework, an Own Resources System and a Recovery Plan for Europe.
Alfred Sant voted in favour of the resolution but stated that the adjustments made to the Multiannual Financial Framework so as to achieve a final agreement in Council seriously undermine the coherence of the EU budget.
“Despite the protracted haggling, the conclusions of the European Council meeting have not delivered an appropriate and satisfactory European response to the economic crisis resulting from the coronavirus pandemic and the multivariate strategies that the EU needs to follow in order not to lag too far behind the US and China”, Alfred Sant told MEPs.
Beyond the economic and social divergences that have grown in recent years, the political divergences that define the European reality have now come into open display.
It is almost impossible to understand how and why areas like health, research and support to companies should be subjected to a brutal amputation. Unfortunately one doubts whether the intervention of this Parliament can in any way help to improve the situation.
The only reason to support the agreement reached is that without any agreement at all, things would be much worse. That’s what we believe now. History might give a different verdict.