The Portuguese Minister of State for Finance defended the maintenance of an expansionary budgetary policy to help the world economy out of the pandemic crisis.
News
Minister for Finance defends maintenance of expansionary policies to help economies out of the crisis
João Leão, Portuguese Minister of State for Finance © Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2021
“ Everybody agrees that expansionary budgetary policies should be maintained, along with affordable financing conditions ”
João Leão, Portuguese Minister of State for Finance
The Minister emphasised that coordination in the response to the crisis had proven “crucial and this is how it should continue”, because “the recovery will not be complete if it does not reach everybody”.
As the country holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union this half-year, Portugal has a seat in the Group of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors from the largest economies in the world, in representation of the European Union, along with the Commission.
The Ministers and Central Bank Governors discussed the economic outlook and the responses to the global challenges magnified by COVID-19, as well as the action plan for financial stability in 2021 and aid for countries in a position of greater economic and social vulnerability.
European Union response to the crisis
João Leão also argued that the European Union has been “exemplary in the speed and coordination of its response to the crisis”, pointing to the “coordination of budgetary and monetary policies”, the “flexibility of budgetary and financial frameworks and state aid”, and the “unprecedented” agreement that allowed for large-scale debt issuance to fund the European recovery.
© Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2021
“The unprecedented dimension of this crisis and the indescribable social and economic losses have given us a push to build a more resilient Europe and a more integrated Europe. We cannot afford to let these efforts go to waste. We must maintain this vision for the future and fully explore the institutional framework of our Union. The response to the crisis must not be a short-term response, but rather converge in a response that will shape the European economy in the medium- and long-term”, said the Minister.
