Finance Minister: EUR 1 billion could be available to Latvia

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Of an intended EUR 500 billion of funds raised by Germany and France, 1 billion could be made available to Latvia over the next 20 years, said Finance Minister Jānis Reirs in a press conference on May 19.

He said that the proposal by Germany and France to set up a EUR 500 billion fund to finance the restructuring of the European Union (EU) economy, which has been severely damaged due to the pandemic, is new and will be subject to further discussion.

"The European Commission will come with its vision on May 27, and this will not be German and French, but European Union funds," Reirs said.

The Minister said that the current information leads to conclude that the project will be long-term, meaning that the European Commission will borrow resources to allocate as grants. 

"According to current estimates, EUR 500 billion could be raised over a 20-year period," Reirs said, indicating that EUR 50 million would be available per year.

The Minister noted that Latvia's position on this fund is that all EU Member States need to find the most acceptable solution.

EU already has three different financial instruments to mitigate the consequences of COVID-19, with a total financial contribution of EUR 500 billion. Latvia has started work to receive EU support to reduce the unemployment risks in the state of emergency. 

Reirs said that the state's potential aid to alleviate the COVID-19 crisis consequences has amounted to EUR 4 billion.

 

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