The International Monetary Fund supports a push by EU lawmakers as well as France and Greece to roll over the European Union’s Covid-era debts, a senior IMF official said on Tuesday.
The EU executive last year unveiled a blockbuster budget proposal for 2028-2034 that included plans for the bloc to pay back tens of billions of euros annually.
The budget must be approved by the European Parliament and member states.
But EU lawmakers last month agreed that the EU should delay its debt repayments, which countries like France and Greece also demand.
The IMF backed that call.
“We see it as a good option in the context of ramping up spending on what we call European public goods,” Oya Celasun, deputy director of the IMF’s European department, said during a briefing in Brussels.
She told reporters the EU could pair that with “additional revenue sources”.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the EU borrowed more than 800 billion euros ($935 billion) to provide financial support to households and businesses.
The EU last year proposed yearly repayments of 25-30 billion euros starting from 2028.
French President Emmanuel Macron described it as “idiotic” to rush to pay back the debt.
“Let’s extend that debt (or) let’s issue more bonds,” he said during a visit to Greece last month, where Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis echoed Macron’s position on repayment.
France has long urged the EU to borrow more money together to invest more.
Source: AFP