Repaying the NextGenerationEU Debt
Of the many remarkable aspects of the NGEU pandemic response, two stand out in relation to repayment: whom will be liable to repay the debt and if indeed the debt will be repaid. With regard to Whom, the Own Resources Decision makes the Member States the default debtors, but not in proportion to the amount they have received. With regard to if, the EU is proposing new own resources, which may only raise enough money to repay the debt if the objectives behind NGEU spending fail. It looks like the EU, in trying to respond to one crisis, has created a crisis of credibility of its own making.