Investment plans must meet a range of criteria set out by the Commission. The Commission wants schools and universities to receive better teaching equipment, and wishes to see investments in vocational training programs, and the health care sector.
Investments in public transport are another requirement. Above all, EU member states must show their investments can boost overall economic growth. Germany, Ursula von der Leyen said, has fulfilled all these funding criteria. It plans to spend a large share of the funds on advancing a digital transformation in the public health care sector, in hospitals and schools.
An area where, Chancellor Merkel recently conceded, "we have some catching up to do. The EU Commission estimates that these recovery funds will allow Germany's gross domestic project to grow by between 0.
This, Boeselager says, produces no additional economic stimulus. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has set up a special task force to oversee and direct the extensive EU investment program in his country.
There are plans to initiate a spate of overdue reforms. The idea is to enhance the efficiency of Italy's bureaucracy and judiciary. The government has also established an auditing body to prevent EU funds being siphoned off or embezzled. Daniel Boeselager, however, accuses the country of green-washing its investment proposal.
He says projects are couched in eco-friendly language to secure EU funds. He therefore calls for legally binding targets that set out how much CO2 will be cut. National investment plans, however, still remain somewhat vague at this stage, largely proposing criteria, procedures and strategies for realizing projects. It concluded that the U. Rather than suggesting the exclusion of these commodities, the Council called for assiduous coordination of domestic policy and foreign assistance.
Presidentially Appointed Committee Harriman Committee : This committee, led by Averell Harriman, included consultants from labor groups and private industry and economists. It recommended that general policies and limits for assistance be established at the outset of the program, but that actual allocations of loans and grants should be performed by a new separate government agency, which would work closely with the State Department.
House of Representatives Herter Committee : This was the broadest of the four studies. Committee members visited participating countries to study relief needs. Studies were also made of availability of resources for European needs both in the U. The committee recommended measures to protect the American economy as well, and examined the qualifications of different agencies for running the program.
It recommended the creation of an Emergency Foreign Reconstruction Authority. The findings of the various reports were to be presented in full to Congress in January , but conditions in Europe led President Truman to call an emergency session in November. Italy and France were about to run out of dollar reserves, and were beset with strikes and labor unrest.
He signed an interim aid authorization on 17 December Congress labored to pass the Economic Cooperation Act on 2 April , and Truman signed it the following day.
The three ERP goals specified by Congress were:. The aid provided by the program could be grant or loan. The ECA was established as a separate agency with equal status to other executive departments.
In accordance with the goal of setting up a debureaucratized agency, its charter was temporary, and it was to be small and controllable. In defining the authority of the ECA, Congress closely followed the recommendations of a report prepared by the Brookings Institution.
But rather than making the Administrator bow to the Secretary of State on all questions of foreign policy, Congress gave both equal rights to object to a proposed action, and equal access to the President as the arbiter of disputes. This did provoke some tension between the two agencies, but weekly lunches meetings for Hoffman and the Undersecretary were useful in smoothing relations.
The ECA was first structured to emphasize delivery of essential supplies to Europe. Later the ECA tried to tie U. A division for program coordination was established. The staff in the office assisted the Administrator in policy development and operating regulations, including final review and decision on programs proposed by the participating countries and the OEEC.
The Director of Operations oversaw the work of the strategic materials, procurement transactions, and transportation divisions. The fact that the ECA was rapidly created, and that it was mandated to self-destruct over four years, almost inevitably made it quite dependent on other established agencies. Even more so because it was to commit large dollar amounts, which made it subject to close supervision.
It was overseen by the Comptroller General. The Economic Cooperation Act also provided for the formation of a Joint Committee on Foreign Economic Cooperation—a watchdog committee reporting to Congress, composed of bipartisan members for both Houses. Although its niche of authority in approving ERP allotments went essentially unchallenged save for some disputes with Paris or the country missions , ECA operations remained dependent on other agencies.
First, the ECA architects had other agencies—the Departments of State, Commerce, and the Treasury, as well as the Export-Import Bank and a group of New York bank officials—establish the procedures for handling letters of commitment.
Their system confirmed the status of the ECA as their creature. Furthermore, at the end of the first quarter of ECA operations, these other agencies had distributed about one-third of the program expenditures charged to it. This fell somewhat after the ECA got on its feet in But the ECA continued to rely on other agencies for special services.
The Army was responsible for procurement in occupied areas; the Department of Labor compiled a handbook of labor statistics and manpower analyses; the Department of the Interior studied the availability of U. Because the Congress had set a ceiling on ECA administrative expenses, the Budget Bureau played an important monitoring role in seeing that these other agencies did not overcharge the ECA account.
One area in which the ECA operated fairly independently was procurement. The Washington headquarters thus abandoned this goal and began authorizing procurement in broad commodity categories. The latter operation was actually quite poorly staffed. The individual U. Ambassador to France. The OSR saw itself more as a theater command with a good amount of leeway for its operations rather than a delegation dependent on Washington for its authority.
However, State Department officials made the case that the independence and authority of the OSR attracted competent and motivated people and that the organization was able to establish good relations with the OEEC. On 27 May Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the Next Generation EU recovery plan that aims to address the damage caused by the pandemic and invest in a green, digital, social and more resilient EU. Under the proposal, the Commission would borrow the money on the financial markets using its high credit rating, which should secure low borrowing costs.
The money will be channelled through existing and new EU instruments. Parliament and Council will decide as co-legislators on the rules governing the different instruments used to implement the plan.
The agreement reached includes a provision for the proper budgetary oversight of the borrowed funds under the recovery plan. Parliament, Council and the Commission will meet regularly to assess the implementation of funds and Parliament, together with Council, will check any deviation from previously agreed plans.
Parliament has been concerned that the recovery plan borrowing could increase the debt burden on future generations, so has been calling for new sources of revenue. In the budget negotiations, Parliament and Council agreed on a calendar for the introduction of new income sources to repay the debt, including a financial transaction tax, a digital levy and taxes on companies that pollute. The decision on the recovery plan borrowing requires unanimity in the Council and ratification by each member state.
Parliament, which has a consultative role in this procedure, gave its green light on 16 September.
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