Recovery, von der Leyen: “20 billion raised with 10-year bonds”

Today the European Commission carried out, through its network of primary dealers, the first placement of bonds that will finance Next Generation Eu, for an amount of “20 billion euros”, with a maturity of “ten years”. This was announced by the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, at a press point in Brussels. It is, von der Leyen points out, “the largest institutional bond issue ever in Europe. And I am very pleased that it has attracted great interest from a wide range of investors: the bond has been ‘oversubscribed’ seven times”, meaning it has there was a demand of approximately seven times the offer. It was “priced on very favorable terms: we pay less than 0.1% interest”. By the end of the year, continues von der Leyen, “we expect to raise EUR 100 billion” in bonds, which “will allow us to finance all the loans and transfers planned for the Member States this year. It is a great opportunity and we must spend well this money “. Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn explains that the issue has attracted institutional investors such as central banks and pension funds, for “over 50% of the EU”, as well as a share from Asia, including China, among others. that “I am sure it will be a significant share” of that category of EU debt buyers.
At a press conference in Brussels, Ursula von der Leyen also said that “after a very intense dialogue with national governments, we have completed the evaluation of several national recovery and resilience plans. And from tomorrow I will travel to these Member States: this week I will visit Portugal. , Spain, Greece, Denmark and Luxembourg. And I expect more trips in the following weeks “. The president of the European Commission has not explicitly confirmed that on Tuesday 22 June she will go to Rome, where she is expected, but the Italian capital should also be included among the “other trips”. When asked for a specific question, Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn replied that he was “certain” that the most important countries are “very high” on the president’s agenda. Italy is the first beneficiary of Next Generation Eu and presented the national plan in the night between April 30 and May 1. The plans should now be approved by written procedure: tomorrow it should be up to Portugal and Spain. “It is good to have the plans, now they must be implemented”, concluded von der Leyen.