Spain is concretizing its option to finance the huge amount of private and also public investments that Europe needs for the twin transitions (green and digital) and to reinforce Defense. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has asked for “new Next Generation funds” to finance “European public goods”. “Climate politics is. The entire digital transformation is and also everything related to Defense,” said Sánchez in Brussels. It thus clearly joins positions such as that expressed by the Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, who has repeatedly asked to “draw lessons” from what has been done with the recovery fund, as the Next Generation funds are popularly known, and apply a tool the same community starting in 2026, when the extraordinary measure approved to get out of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic ends.
Sánchez has launched his proposal upon arriving at the extraordinary European Council that this Wednesday and Thursday will address, among other issues, how the EU can stop its loss of competitiveness compared to large economic areas such as the United States and China in these moments of transition. To find a recipe book, the European Council commissioned former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta to present a report to the leaders on Thursday, and the European Commission another to former ECB President Mario Draghi. The latter will not arrive until the summer, but Draghi, also former prime minister of his country, has already made it very clear that his commitment involves a “radical change” with respect to what was seen in the financial crisis. His bet to gain competitiveness does not involve “reducing salary costs” – “The net result [en aquella crisis] “It was only to weaken our internal demand and undermine our social model,” he highlighted this Tuesday, one day before the leaders’ summit began – but to invest to increase long-term productivity.
Letta’s report also points in that direction, although the assignment he received was limited to the internal market. He is committed, above all, to taking more steps towards greater integration of the single market, mainly through the financial areas, telecommunications (which are also technological) and others that when it was created 30 years ago did not have the importance they have today (Defense, Health, Education…). Ultimately, it is about improving companies’ access to capital so that they can finance the investments they need.
Although the now president of the Jacques Delors Institute does not forget public money either. Letta, for example, echoes that “the debate on Eurobonds for Defense is gaining ground.” He then demands that they study using the money in the Rescue Fund created during the financial crisis to give credits to the defense. Of course, the Italian does not forget – no one does – the European Investment Bank.
He shapeless Read It is not the first commissioned by European institutions that goes along the lines of demanding more integration into the single market. He knows. He has been prime minister of his country, consequently, he has participated as a leader in community debates like the one we are experiencing now and he knows that, until now, there has been no political will in the States to continue on the path started three decades ago. . Why would there be now? “It’s very simple. We cannot afford to wait. It is the last chance, the last window of opportunity. Now is the time to act. Our economy is lagging behind the United States. China and India are bigger [más de 1.000 millones de habitantes ambos]but not the US. We are doing something wrong,” he explained in the presentation of his report before the European Council.
Sánchez, for his part, does not want the debate to remain only about how to boost investments in the private sector. “What we aspire to is that, from 2026, we not only have a role to play on the part of the EIB and the Capital Market Union to channel private investment. Also [queremos] “Next Generation funds that allow us to respond to the construction of European public goods.” “Climate policy is, the entire digital transformation is and, without a doubt, everything linked to Defense,” he stated, after recalling that “Spain was one of the intellectual authors.” [de los fondos] to respond to the pandemic crisis.”
The words of the President of the Government take another step in the debate that is opening in the EU. Last Friday it was the Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, who pointed in the direction advanced by Sánchez. The head of Finance specified as much as the president, although it could be deduced from his words that they were in that direction: “We will need joint financing mechanisms. Beyond the Capital Market Union or the EIB,” Corporal claimed in Luxembourg at the end of the meeting with his EU colleagues, the so-called Ecofin.