The difference between the United Kingdom and the European Union has been shown perfectly by the EU’s €750bn (£680bn) Recovery Fund. Whereas Rishi Sunak’s Treasury Furlough Scheme and various other forms of bailout were agreed almost immediately and have been added to when necessary, the EU has struggled to do something similar.
The reason for this is that Britain is a sovereign nation state, while the EU is not, at least yet, a state at all. It is perhaps a confederation of sovereign nation states moving gradually towards a federation, but it is not there yet. For this reason, the EU’s Recovery fund has required difficult negotiations between politicians from all of its member states.
The EU may now have an embryonic Treasury, but it has not reached fiscal union, nor debt mutualisation. Those EU member states led by the Netherlands who are net contributors to the Recovery Fund are worried about fiscal transfers from the wealthier north to the poorer south.
There are all sorts of strings attached the money anyway. If Italy for instance wishes to get money from the Recover Fund, it must submit to whatever the European Commission asks it to do. This amounts to a restoration of the Troika which at times has had supremacy over elected politicians in places like Ireland, Greece and Spain. You only get the money if you agree to implement whatever reforms, spending cuts and tax rises the EU demands.
Any EU member state can pull an emergency brake if it dislikes how the Recovery Fund is working so as to force a review.
[Interesting Read]
See Also:
(1) The Failing Welsh Assembly
(2) Leo Varadkar’s ‘row’ with Boris Johnson over Northern Ireland bridge laid bare
(3) Emmanuel Macron’s EU army dream crushed as ‘nonsense plan’ – ‘Who would be in charge?’
(4) Oh dear, Nicola! Sturgeon’s SNP independence dream would cost Scotland £12bn a YEAR
(5) SNP supporters savaged after boycotting company visited by Boris Johnson
