The majority of Italians, 58 percent of them, believe that the products and services of the "selfish Dutch" should be boycotted, according to a survey of public opinion in Italy ahead of tomorrow's expected proposal of the European Commission on the recovery fund for the economy and health of the EU from the disastrous consequences of the coronavirus epidemic.
Italy and especially the Netherlands are in a serious conflict over the essence of this, according to many assessments, the crucial recovery plan for the future and survival of the Union, over which the members of the Union have faced and divided when it comes to solidarity and the view of the economic and political principles of the EU, i.e. whether " the thrifty" rich should finance the recovery of the "spenders".
Because some support the French-German proposal that the most of the joint 500 billion euros be granted in the form of non-refundable funds-"gifts"-for the recovery of the most vulnerable countries, Italy and Spain in particular.
This is opposed by a group of rich "thrifty" EU members, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria and Sweden, who demand that the aid be given only through favorable loans, but conditional on structural reforms and spending what is earned.
The "spenders", as they are accused by the "thrifty", say that they, especially the Spaniards and Italians, were not irresponsible in spending the budget and state money and that is why they fell into an economic and social disaster, but the terrible coronavirus epidemic hit them much harder and destroyed their economy and healthcare than some EU members.
The Austrian newspaper "Presse" believes that the argument that rich EU members, because they have large surpluses in exports to the rest of the Union, and especially to "spenders", should be returned to them is not a valid argument, and compares it to the logic of American President Trump and the initiation of a "trade war" with countries that, like the EU and China, export more than they import from the US.
The Italian newspaper "Stampa" warns that this is "blindness" and not "thrift" and says that the entire Union would fall into a crisis of survival if it were left to simply fail many members of the Eurozone.
Analysts in the EU are also divided according to conflicting interests, and with assessments that the collapse of the economy, health systems and the huge political disturbances that would cause, the Union itself would cease to exist as it is.
It is clear that even for the "thrifty" export markets would fail, huge armies of the unemployed would fall prey to undemocratic, populist, authoritarian sirens who offer "easy solutions" and dangerously remember Europe's past.
The media, analysts and politicians in the EU have evaluated it as a big, perhaps "historical turn" in what has been seen as a narrow-minded policy of Germany towards the future of the Union, since German Chancellor Angela Merkel, together with French President Emmanuel Macron, is a great advocate of solidarity, strengthening unity and the extinct world role of the Union, came out with a proposal that the joint Epidemic Recovery Fund at the level of the entire Union should take over the borrowing and repayment of 500 billion euros.
The German-French proposal, the final proposal of which will be made by the European Commission, which consulted with all partners in the EU, also contains items that it is aid for only two years, "with a thorough assessment of which regions and sectors need these funds".
The money can be used for the economic growth of the very useful sectors of research and innovation, healthcare, the transition of the EU economy to the "green plan" and digitization, which is also a pledge of the great strategic plan of building the European Union as an equal competitor to the world powers, America and China.
Berlin and Paris, through the position that the Recovery Plan incorporated in the EU budget must be "linked to respect for the rule of law and fundamental rights", sends a message to the "sovereigns", the members in the east of the EU, who are not satisfied with that Plan because they fear that it could have bad consequences. for their previous rights to withdraw large-scale funds from the structural and cohesion funds of the Union.
And the fact that the coronavirus threatened consequences of "biblical proportions", as warned by the high representative of the EU, Joseph Borel, is also indicated by the statement of Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy of France, one of the most powerful and richest countries in Europe, that without the significant support of the state and the EU, the great French the car manufacturer "Renault" simply had to declare bankruptcy.
The German weekly "Spiegel" concludes that with a joint proposal with France for the EU Recovery Fund, Germany "made a historic step for the Union and sent a strong sign of solidarity between the rich and the weaker."
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