The European Green Deal as a recovery strategy for the European Union

The so-called Next Generation EU, presented by the European Commission, aims to tackle the economic crisis caused by Covid-19 and will do so with the European Green Deal as one of its pillars

The European Green Deal, also known as the Green Deal, will be very present in the European strategy to tackle the economic consequences caused by the Covid-19 pandemic on the old continent. In a press release published in the last week of May, the European Commission announced the strategy of the body chaired by Ursula Von der Leyen to address this situation, which is embodied in a plan called “Next Generation EU”, and did so by highlighting the European Green Deal as one of its pillars of recovery. Von der Leyen made public a plan that, if approved by all member states, would put up to €750 billion on the table in subsidies and loans. Thus, Next Generation EU would also be strengthened by the EU’s long-term budgets for the period 2021-2027, which would raise the total financial capacity of the Union budget to €1.85 trillion. A not inconsiderable impact on boosting the European economy with the Green Deal, among others, as a pillar of growth.

The European Green Deal, whose objective is socio-economic growth based on changing the European energy model, is presented as one of the opportunities that this health and economic crisis can bring to European economies, which have a large energy industry with a clear commitment to innovation, research and environmental impact. This industry also has the necessary mechanisms to help institutions make the leap towards a green economy.

This plan will be discussed on June 19, where it will need the support of all countries for its approval. Despite initial doubts from the so-called “frugal countries”, which would include the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Denmark, the European Parliament as a whole has optimistically adopted this recovery roadmap.

Regarding the main lines that this recovery plan would promote, and which would be in line with the main objectives of the Green Deal, the following points are included:

• A massive wave of renovation of our building stock and our infrastructure, and a greater circular economy, which create jobs at the local level,
• The launch of renewable energy projects, especially wind and solar power, and a clean hydrogen economy in Europe,
• Cleaner transport and logistics, which includes the installation of one million charging points for electric vehicles and the promotion of rail transport and clean mobility in our cities and regions,
• The reinforcement of the Just Transition Fund to support professional retraining and help companies create new economic opportunities.

Thus, and according to the information published by the European Commission itself, up to 30 billion euros would be mobilized for the so-called “Just Transition Fund”.