Reconstruction plan: Germany’s EU bill is minus 52.3 billion euros

AEverything at the summit was historic: the length of the negotiations, the huge sums of money that were contested, the decision that the EU should be allowed to borrow on a large scale. At the end of July, Merkel, Macron and the other EU heads of government agreed to an unprecedented economic stimulus package at their marathon summit: the EU wants to channel 750 billion euros mainly to the member states most affected by the measures of the crown.

In Berlin, meanwhile, there is more clarity about what the plan started by Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron means for German taxpayers. According to the decision of the member states, the EU Commission will distribute 390,000 million euros in transfers through the reconstruction plan, which the recipient countries do not have to reimburse.

In addition, there are € 360 billion in soft loans that can be repaid over many years. However, these loans were hardly discussed during the negotiations. Berlin declines anyway on loans: “They are not attractive to Germany because Germany can finance itself cheaper on the market than the EU,” he says in a federal government response to a request from FDP member of the Bundestag Gerald Ullrich. He is the chairman of his party on the EU committee in the Bundestag. The letter from the federal government is available to WELT.

In it he also explains how much money he is currently expecting from the reconstruction plan. The parliamentary secretary of state responsible for the Federal Ministry of Finance writes that Germany can count on around 15.2 billion euros in grants from the Reconstruction and Resilience Fund (ARF), the central fund of the reconstruction plan.

This assessment is based on information from the EU Commission, which calculated in September how long EU members can expect after the July summit decided on a new distribution key for the funds.

In 2023, according to the response from the Federal Government, Germany could also expect another 7.5 billion tranche of the jackpot. However, this amount is only a preliminary value based on the current economic forecast of the EU Commission. How high the second tranche will be will only become clear when it is clear how severely the economy in EU countries collapsed during the Crown crisis.

In general, according to the current state and in the context of all the imponderables, Germany can count on 22.7 billion euros from the central fund of the reconstruction plan. Additionally, there are smaller program amounts in the rebuilding plan.

Germany’s contribution, however, will be much greater. For the first time, the EU Commission will take on large amounts of debt in order to pay for transfers. These debts will be repaid from the EU budget, and should be cleared by 2058.

“The reimbursement of the bonds in relation to the grant part of the development instrument (390 billion euros) will be provided from the EU budget, so the same proportion of funding applies in this regard as in general for the EU budget, “said the Federal Government’s response. “In the next financial period, this will probably be around 24 percent for Germany.”

The next financial period ends in 2028. It is not yet clear what Germany’s share of funding the EU budget will be in the coming decades, but it is likely to remain at the previous level. The exact amount will depend on a number of factors, such as whether the German economy is growing faster or slower than other EU countries, whether new EU members are joining, and whether the planned new EU taxes will be directly in the EU. – The budget must flow, it will actually give.

If Germany’s share of the EU budget were 24 percent after 2028, Germany would reimburse around € 75 billion to the EU budget by 2058 to finance the € 312.5 billion reconstruction and resilience facility. . If Berlin can count on only 22.7 billion euros in grants at the same time, that would mean that Germany will pay around 52 billion euros net to the central reconstruction fund.

FDP politician Ullrich criticizes the relationship. “As things stand today, Germany is paying the EU 52.3 billion euros more than it receives in the reconstruction plan. European solidarity is important, but that is a glaring disparity. And that, although the German economy has suffered a lot from the measures of the Crown, ”says the FDP politician.

“The Chancellor should have negotiated harder in Brussels. Germany may also need the money for urgently needed investments in the areas of education and digitization. “

Germany can expect less money than originally expected. An initial calculation made by the Brussels Bruegel think tank immediately after the summit showed that Germany could expect around 47 billion euros from the reconstruction plan. In fact, the details of the marathon negotiations initially caused some confusion.

At the summit, the heads of government also changed the criteria according to which money from the Corona pot is distributed. Initially, 70 percent of payments and credits must be distributed according to the original key.

In a second step, a decision will be made in 2022 on how the remaining 30 percent will be awarded. The drop in economic output in 2020 and 2021 should also be a criterion for this.

Meanwhile, in Brussels, the core issues of the package are still being debated. The European Parliament and EU states have been negotiating for weeks over the next long-term EU budget, which is linked to the reconstruction plan. There is no end in sight to the negotiations that the German Council Presidency is leading.

“The negotiations have moved in many areas,” said green politician Rasmus Andresen after Monday’s round of negotiations. Parliament wants more money in some areas and its own taxes from the EU. A major controversial issue is also linking the disbursement of budget funds with compliance with the rule of law.

“No one should doubt Parliament’s resolution on this issue,” warned Manfred Weber, chairman of the conservative group of the EPP. The reconstruction plan will also be a topic in the EU finance ministers’ video conference on Tuesday; the main thing politicians want to talk about is the management and control of funds.