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Before attending the meeting of the European finance ministers, which will take place next Friday and Saturday in Brussels, the Austrian Magnus Brunner makes it clear that he will not give in to a relaxation of the European debt corset. "There will be no relaxation of the European debt rules with Vienna", he has advanced his position. “It is clear that we need reforms and we are open to talk about it. The rules must be simplified and better enforceable. But you must always return to sustainable budgets in the medium term, this is crucial”, he points out, “that is why we are strongly opposed to relaxing the rules, there will be no slippage with us and we are not alone in that refusal”.
Bruner refers to statements to this effect by the German Finance Minister
, the liberal Christian Lindner, who has also shown his opposition to a relaxation of European regulations, while other countries, such as France and Italy, will attend the meeting requiring an exception for debt generated by digital or green investments. "Debts are still debts, no matter what color you paint them", rejects the Austrian minister, "we are willing to talk about green investments, but it is important that in the end we have a package that guarantees stability and a return to balanced budgets. “It makes no sense to constantly talk about exceptions without first having guaranteed stability and sustainability. The Stability and Growth Pact already contains numerous exceptions and the question is rather how we can get away from those exceptions”, he points out.
Bruner also put forward that his government will continue to fight against the sustainability label for nuclear energy and proposes a transitional taxonomy. “Nuclear power is not sustainable, we will hang on to that. It is dangerous for humans and the environment, too expensive in general. But the positions are what they are, so what we need is to have two taxonomies, so that the EU does not lose its credibility: a green taxonomy in which nuclear energy and gas do not appear, and a more open transition taxonomy» . Suggest. From his point of view, gas could be part of the transition taxonomy, but not nuclear energy. On the contrary, the EU makes a fool of itself in the international financial markets for those who write the taxonomy. I have been to the City of London, I have spoken with investors, and they want a clean taxonomy, they want to have pure ecological products that will have absolutely nothing to do with nuclear energy”, he insists, “if the EU wants private investors to co-finance the the energy transition, must be credible and not contradict the European Green Deal”.
In an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, Bruner warns that we continue to reserve "the right to sue the taxonomy of the Commission, our Environment Minister will make the proposal on it and we, as the federal government, support it."
