Frugal Four

The Frugal Four, formerly sometimes the Frugal Five, is an informal cooperation among like-minded fiscally conservative European countries, including Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden. It partly evolved as a successor organisation of the New Hanseatic League that was set up to make up for the loss of the like-minded United Kingdom in the European political arena after Brexit.[1] The Frugal Four experienced widespread media coverage throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, most likely first coined by Politico when Germany still belonged to this group of EU states. However, it was never founded as a transnational organisation like similar cooperations of countries in the European Union with shared interests.

The Frugal Four

Members of the Frugal Four after Germany's departure (shown in blue).
Membership
Area
• Total
618,800 km2 (238,900 sq mi)
Population
• 2017 estimate
41,000,000

Position

What unites the members of the Frugal Four are the wish for rebates as well as unique rules within the EU budget system rather than a universal system of rules that affects all members equally in nominal numbers.[2] In an op-ed by Austria's chancellor Sebastian Kurz published in the Financial Times, he described the goals of the Frugal Four as a focus on budget contribution to the EU remaining stable, namely at a maximum of 1 per cent of the EU's gross national income), as well as devoting at least 25 per cent of it to fighting climate change. Furthermore, the Frugal Four wish for spending conditions that are tied to supporting the effective implementation of EU-wide policy objectives and the upholding of the rule of law.[3] These positions came as a response to those countries within the bloc that see a need for higher individual contributions to the EU's budget after Brexit. The group of Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden also disagrees with the idea of Eurobonds, an hypothetical tool for joint bonds within the eurozone, as well as taking mutualised debts within the EU.[4] As a consequence, the group stands opposed to the idea of the limited "corona bonds" as well.

Context
Mark Rutte in 2010.

The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has been described as the unofficial leader of the group. While this makes him unpopular in the rest of Europe, it attunes him to current Dutch politics: The Netherlands is proportionally a big contributor to the Union, while as a tax haven, it attracts money from other European countries. The retirement age in the Netherlands has been recently delayed to 67, making the Dutch unwilling to contribute to countries with lower ages.. The weakness of his VVD party prompts other European leaders to accommodate him as an alternative to Dutch Euroskeptics.[5]

Member change

Germany was widely considered to be as fiscally conservative as the Frugal Four, hence the context in which the coalition of states was also sometimes referred to as the "Frugal Five".[6] This changed in May 2020 the latest when Germany joined France's call for a €500 billion recovery fund for the EU.[7] This new measure to tackle the pandemic and its consequences would lead to shared borrowing with other EU member countries, a position that Germany tried to avoid until that point.[8] Later the original group's demands were supported by Finland.[9]

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See also

References
  1. "The EU's new Hanseatic League picks its next Brussels battle". Financial Times. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  2. "After Brexit, who will be the British of the EU?". Economist. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  3. Kurz, Sebastian. "The 'frugal four' advocate a responsible EU budget". Financial Times. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  4. "'Frugal four' nations counter Franco-German EU initiative". DW. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  5. Dodman, Benjamin (2020-07-20). "Dutch PM Mark Rutte, the thrifty europhile holding Europe hostage". France 24. Reuters, AFP. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  6. "EU Budget negotiations: the 'frugal five' and development policy". ETTG. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  7. "Coronavirus: France, Germany propose €500 billion recovery fund". DW. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  8. McHugh, David (19 May 2020). "Germany breaks taboo in effort to get EU through pandemic". CTV News. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  9. "Coronavirus: EU leaders reach recovery deal after marathon summit". BBC News. 21 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
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