Because Germany is also snorting against Brussels on Recovery
After Brussels' no to the German Recovery Plan, in Germany they accuse the EU rules of senseless authoritarianism. The article by Tino Oldani for Italy Today
The European Parliament approved the regulation of the Recovery Fund on Wednesday, establishing once and for all the conditionalities that the 27 EU countries will have to respect in order to obtain the 750 billion euros in loans and grants. Surprisingly, the majority of votes in favor were also joined by Matteo Salvini's League, which had been in favor of no for months. A sensational reversal of line, which the Northern League leader justified with the opportunity to sit in Mario Draghi's government, where it will be decided how to spend the 209 billion of the Recovery Fund in Italy, earning moreover some points as a credible government force in Europe . The somersault is even more spectacular if we consider that Mario Draghi, in his meetings with the parties, has anticipated what the cornerstones of his government program will be, including Europeanism and greater transfer of sovereignty. With many greetings to sovereignty of which Matteo Salvini was a standard-bearer until a few days ago.
For a curious irony of European politics, while Italy ensures the transfer of sovereignty to the conditionalities of the Recovery Fund, in Germany there are those who are beginning to wonder if these new rules are not becoming real "anti-democratic weapons" of the EU Commission, with completely arbitrary, even "senseless" invasions in the national legislative field. Obviously we are talking about a debate between intellectuals, certainly not about the very good relations between Angela Merkel and the president of the EU Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, who is his protégé. But below the political summit, in Brussels there is an increasingly self-referential and powerful Euroburocracy, which for some time has also been fleasing Germany. And it is on this bureaucracy that the arrows rain.
This is confirmed by an investigation by German Foreign Policy , from which we learn that last year Brussels opened 81 infringement procedures against Germany, five more than in 2019. Together with Italy and Spain, the investigation reveals, Germany is among the countries most at fault in the implementation of European directives, especially in the green economy and environmental protection sectors, cars and transport in the lead, including railways and ships. But the Merkel government has done very little to implement the EU recommendations, indeed it would have done everything to circumvent them or delay their implementation. Silent sovereignty?
It's not all. Last week the Euroburocracy rejected the first draft of the German Recovery Plan, sent to Brussels to obtain the approximately 24 billion in loans allocated to Germany, rejecting it as sender. A sensational rebuff, which Brussels has motivated with these requests: reform the overly progressive tax system, strengthen the financial sustainability of the pension system, liberalize regulated professions, abolish the separation of spouses in the tax field.
"This all sounds a bit strange," commented Keynesian economist Martin Hoepner in the online magazine Makroskop.de. «Is the German system of tax separation between spouses perhaps part of the EU's competences? Or, without our realizing it, does it by any chance contribute to those internal imbalances within Europe, which actually need to be corrected? Even if that were the case (but obviously not), what does all this have to do with the Reconstruction Fund? '
In his speech, Hoepner reconstructs the history of EU recommendations to individual countries, initially aimed at enforcing the balances of state budgets, and underlines their gradual evolution towards increasingly extensive and binding regulations. Result: "A procedure that was supposed to serve for soft coordination, is increasingly equipped with the bit that transforms non-binding recommendations into mandatory instructions, supported by sanctions." In this way, the EU Commission is operating with rules that go “beyond European legislation”, with the aim of assuming more and more power than the Member States. And the Recovery Fund is the most up-to-date and incisive version. A direction of travel that Hoepner rejects as «authoritarian, undemocratic and senseless».
To reject the German Recovery Plan, observes the economist, Brussels could choose "less controversial recommendations, such as the low level of environmental taxes in Germany, the strengthening of teaching staff in schools in the context of the pandemic, or how to increase the attractiveness of the professions. nursing ". Instead he chose recommendations, such as the one on the fiscal separation of spouses, which "mark the arrogance on the part of Brussels to want to know better than individual countries what the politics of member states must do, revealing the nightmare of a technocratic and authoritarian Europe , instead of a democratic Europe. Sure, dormant resources in Europe are tempting, who wouldn't like to have a few crumbs? But the balance of this arrogance is disastrous ».
What to do? For Hoepner, "the provocation from Brussels will certainly not allow the officials of the chancellery and ministries concerned to spend sleepless nights, and in the end the EU Commission will not be able to refrain from granting the requested funds to Germany". Conclusion: 'The only sensible way to tackle these aberrations of European integration is to minimize and abolish them. For the Recovery Fund this means that all conditionalities that have nothing to do with the actual use of the funds will have to be fundamentally rejected. ' Cubed German sovereignty? Sure, as usual. But don't tell Salvini.
Article published on ItaliaOggi
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/perche-pure-la-germania-sbuffa-contro-bruxelles-sul-recovery/ on Sat, 13 Feb 2021 14:27:15 +0000.