Auf Solidarität muss Solidität folgen

Over the past two decades, the member states of the European Union (EU) have shown to a considerable extent solidarity with individual countries that have experienced financial difficulties. Solidarity is not a one-way street; it requires reciprocity. Member states can do this by focusing on more solidity in national fiscal and economic policies. The first major solidarity action responded to the euro debt crisis. Despite economic policy mistakes and the fact that the crisis was self-inflicted to this depth, the other EU states demonstrated solidarity. In doing so, they took significant financial risks for their own taxpayers by taking comprehensive support measures and establishing a euro rescue fund. The EU also showed solidarity with extensive aid packages during the Corona pandemic. The EU’s first Corona crisis package of May 2020 was followed by a reconstruction instrument known as the Next Generation EU (NGEU). It is worth almost 807 billion euros. Most of it goes to the Reconstruction and Resilience Facility and is to be used for investments and reforms in EU member states. Disbursement of the funds is tied to reconstruction and resilience plans, which must be submitted by the member states and are assessed by the European Commission. The fact that the countries make the plans themselves and the European Commission does not prescribe them, but only checks them, increases the so-called ownership and the chances of implementation. The productive use of the extensive aid funds must be seen as a basic prerequisite for solidarity to prove its worth in the long term.