EU Corona Fund

The EU has set up a post-COVID fund. From a pot of EUR 750 billion, countries will be able to claim money for the “recovery” of their economies. Sweden is expected to contribute about SEK 150 billion to the fund – over the next 30 years.

There is only a weak link between the pandemic and the money. The way the money is distributed doesn’t reflect the way different countries have been affected by the virus. The money will be consumed by bureaucracy as it gets spent on things that the Member States could just as well have paid for themselves directly. The fund will prop up economies that are more in need of a wholesale clear-out than extra handouts from the EU. The fund will mean EU Member States will be in debt until 2058.

The COVID-19 recovery fund can be seen as a form of political posturing. Europe’s politicians can look as if they are doing something by announcing massive investments of vast sums of money. This kind of initiative also increases EU bureaucracy and we can just imagine the kinds of rent seekers and special interests that will be siphoning the money out of these tax chests.