Africa Press-Nigeria:
The European Union must stand ready to roll out a further 1 trillion euros (1.1 trillion dollars) to repair the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
This is according to a top EU economics official ahead of an EU leaders’ summit this week.
The package of short-term measures worth 540 billion euros agreed by EU finance ministers two weeks ago is not enough, EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told German news magazine Der Spiegel on Monday.
The 27-country bloc is bracing for the worst economic contraction in decades, with the member states divided over how much and what fiscal firepower to roll out.
EU governments are drawing up their visions for a shared recovery plan agreed in principle by finance ministers, the details of which would be under discussion at a video conference on Thursday.
Italy, France and Spain believe shared debt in the form of bonds is necessary, while Germany and the Netherlands strongly oppose the move.
Madrid suggested a 1.5-trillion-euro recovery fund on Monday, El Pais newspaper reported.
The EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, believes a compromise could be a dedicated fund within the next common EU long-term budget, for 2021-27.
The commission could issue bonds to borrow from financial markets with the fund, and the EU states would act as guarantors.
To date, the collective response from EU member states and institutions including a corporate loan scheme, an initiative to pay workers’ wages and the use of the eurozone bailout fund is worth close to 3.4 trillion euros, the commission said on Monday.
