Juncker’s €315 billion fund ‘will hardly make dent’ on stagnation – Sant

Former prime minister Alfred Sant has told the European Parliament that an investment fund launched by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncher will hardely make a dent on European stagnation.

The president of the European Commission has hailed his €315 billion investment programme to revive the eurozone as “an ambitious and new way of boosting investment without creating new debt”.

Malta is hoping to use funds under the investment programme to build a monorail across the Maltese islands.

“The only way to counter the imbalances created in the Eurozone is through a central investment fund, massive in scope and targeted to rebalance wealth and employment creation within the euro zone. The Juncker fund has no chance of achieving this target, nor does it have that ambition. For that reason I fear that it will make hardly any dent on economic stagnation in Europe,” the Labour MEP said.

“The one thing in common between those who want all-out fiscal consolidation and those who insist that the priority must be economic stimulus is that both agree that investment in Europe is lagging behind,” Sant told the EP in its debate on the European Fund for Strategic investments proposed by the Juncker Commission.

“I sympathize with those who argue that this is better than nothing. But fundamentally, the eurozone’s malaise results from deep imbalances between its constituent parts. They have created a dynamic by which internal economic divergences continue to widen. The new investment monies being mobilised by the Juncker initiative are minimal, in relative and absolute terms. Most have been subtracted from monies voted by the EU for research, which is highly regrettable,” Sant said.