.@EmmanuelMacron just gave a very interesting TV press conference at the Elysée after the end of the EU summit. It provides some clues about the battle lines ahead 1/
He said France wanted a “strong, organised and rapid” response in the days ahead on an “economic relaunch programme” that would include both mutually guaranteed debt and “transfers”(ie grants) “to the geographical areas and economic sectors” most stricken by the Covid-19 crisis
Increased debt, not even mutually guaranteed debt, was enough to respond to an economic shock which would subtract between 5 and 10% of GDP from the EU economy, he said 3/
Building up debt of most fragile countries was not the answer alone. There must also be “transfers” through the EU budget of large amounts of money (he gave no figure) which would NOT have to be repaid 4/
Otherwise, he said, those who gained most from Single Market would find that the single market was “no longer there” 5/
Macron: “Europe is at a moment of truth. We must find response which are large enough to respond to the scale of the crisis and which match the grandeur of our history.” 6/
There were still disagreements, he said. The Commission would clarify its ideas in the next few days. He would be having bilateral conversations with several other EU leaders ENDS
