The EU's €500 Billion COVID Stimulus: France & Germany's Plan to Save the EU - TLDR News

Germany and France, as the two biggest contributors to the EU, have come together to develop a plan to keep the Union's economy alive during (and after) COVID. In this video, we discuss the plans to spend €500 billion Euros on this project, and whether other countries, including the so-called 'Frugal Four' will approve such massive spending.

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[PakoM]

I think it is a good proposal and we need to stand together with our European brothers and sisters. Together we are stronger than the virus! 🇪🇺

[myvirtualpresencefyi]

Perhaps an amendment to the Lisbon treaty is necessary stipulating that any net recipients of this financial package have to repay it if they leave the EU (like the UK).

[finlaysime]

We need to stand together to stop this enemy. We are stronger together🇪🇺 and weaker alone at times like this! They are our brothers and sisters that need support

[masguardian]

I would hope the EU would finally set up a proper monetary and fiscal union, or the Eurozone would drag the economic and sovereign debt, but I do understand people don't like transferring their money to poorer countries. However, to have a unified Europe, I think that's what it takes. Just like rich states in the US contribute more than they receive.

[Lleruelu]

Thanks for these so explanatory EU videos! Stronger together 🇪🇺

[Allard]

I really think the EU needs to come together on this and help eachother. But I think most people agree on this.

The hesitation from the Netherlands and the others is that Italy in the past told the rest of the EU: We'll spend our money like we want after the EU helped them out somewhat.

I mean, that's fair, if the money you spend is your own money. But the moment all the money in the EU goes to all the countries in the EU, the countries in the EU should to some degree be accountable.

It's kind of like sharing your bank account with your friends. It takes a lot of trust. And the idea of sharing my bank acocunt with my best friends without setting up some very clear guidelines scares me.
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I don't know what the sollution is. This is a really complicated matter. But I do have a lot of trust in France and Germany, so this proposal could probably function as the basis of a sollution.

[Ezzxe]

The problem in Europe is everyone in the rich countries think life is cheaper in poorer countries, and while some things are indeed less expensive, housing, bills and general items are the same if not dearest. While the wages are way different. I lived in 5 European countries so far and every single one is different. And in the video there is a common thing that everyone says but its actually very wrong, Portugal, Greece etc taking money from Germany, that's just wrong, go look at which companies took that money, out of the biggest 100, only 4 are portuguese. The question should be who took their money to start with?! Cause I lived there they are hard working people, everyone pays their taxes, average person works 50h weeks and gets payd 40h week instead and average wage is around 700€ monthly. And go look at the price of housing on a city there. While the price of a car there is way more than in Ireland where I live atm. Makes you wonder how the hell this union still stands.

[formstrup]

The frugal 4´s are right!
The EU is a trade organization and should never become a political, judicial, military or economic union.
We (Denmark) already pay approximately as much to the EU as we give in foreign aid.
If it gets more expensive, I think we will follow UK's example

[konraddapper]

In my opinion, a European grand system has to be accompanied by unified tax code, a unified retirement system, a unified welfare system, and unified armed forces. Because else no nation is incentivized to be fiscally responsible.
But reforms of that magnitude cannot and should not be rushed. This means for the time being a loans based recovery fund is the only viable option.

[diekssus]

Amazing how this video is already out of date

[PoitiersAD]

It is embarrassing to see the countries in southern Europe asking for funding. Will they ever survive without money from northern Europe?

[Clckclck]

Countries should fix their economies. The EU isn't a country however. Why should Dutch taxpayers see their money go to Spain? Why should Danish taxpayers pay for Italians while Italy refuses to make Italians pay taxes? It isn't the task of the EU to redistribute wealth among countries! This plan will generate massive dislike for the EU in countries that end up with the bill.

[bjoerkengard]

So is it $3 billion, $3 trillion or $300 trillion support package in the US? Waiting in suspense for the big reveal in the mentioned video

[Trazynn]

Whenever Southern European countries are being told to fix their budget deficits the common response is that it's not anyone else's business. Until now. Apparently their bad credit score is now a burden that needs to be shared by countries that went through great lengths to minimize their own budget deficit.

[ryanmandal]

In 0:54, you said that America had a 3 Trillion dollar stimulus package but in the video it shows 3 Billion, please fix this.

[lightningzeus]

Great video! I'm following your UK channel on social media but I can't find the EU one on things like twitter.

Does TLDR News EU have a Twitter account?

[undogmatisch]

A proper monetary and fiscal union might be a good idea, but only if there's a common framework. It cannot be that some countries don't act fiscally irresponsible (almost traditionallly), and others are obligated to bail them out.
Solidarity it a pretty good thing, but it is not a one way street.

[theamici]

Loans just create unstable financial futures. Grants are necessary to ensure stable growth. We don't need yet another Greek crisis, the first one was enough painful and -exhausting.

[tedybear]

This is a bad idea, to link all the economies together. If it all fails Germany is dragged down with the rest of us, and that will just at worst make germans resent us a lot and at best make all economies so dependent on Germany that they will have to do majority of the work

[Welgeldiguniekalias]

This is a terrible proposal that will be rejected by the more sensible member states. Merkel is on the way out and is looking for a big step towards European unification during her last days in office. She knows it's ill-conceived but supports it anyway because it is her last chance to vote in "more Europe". However, the current problem is not a shortage of capital, therefore this plan is not a solution to the current problem. The economy will recover once people feel it's safe to go out.

Let us not forget that Italy, a country with a sovereign debt ratio of 134.80% that has not gone down over the past years, almost introduced a universal basic income they couldn't afford. This was not too long ago, and one of the ruling parties entertaining this idea is still in the Italian government today. The notion that we would share a debt with Italy and assume there will be no drama when it's time to repay is just ludicrous. Obviously this plan is completely unacceptable to the more fiscally responsible member states. Even if Merkel can somehow strongarm the Bundestag into accepting it, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden will still reject it. We have not forgotten how deceitful Italian politicians and officials placed their disgusting and insulting ad in a German newspaper, crying like a bunch of little babies who told they couldn't have another lolly, just because we were not prepared to give them money for nothing until the end of times. You can point at fiscally responsible member states and say "they are rich, they must help us in the name of European solidarity" but that is missing the point that these states tax their people and their businesses to the point that their finances are in order. Expecting other member states to cut spending and increase taxes, just so you won't have to, is the opposite of solidarity.