Coronavirus: EU finance chiefs agree on US$590 billion rescue package
- Ministers approve plan in emergency teleconference, easing concerns that bloc is unable to unite behind common strategy
- Package includes joint employment insurance fund as well as credit lines from euro area’s bailout fund
European Union finance ministers agreed on a €540 billion (US$590 billion) package of measures to combat the economic fallout of the global pandemic.
In an emergency teleconference on Thursday, they approved a plan to stave off what is expected to be a recession of unprecedented size, drawing a round of applause from the officials involved.
It includes a joint employment insurance fund worth €100 billion, a European Investment Bank instrument intended to supply €200 billion of liquidity to companies, as well as credit lines of up to €240 billion from the European Stability Mechanism – the euro area’s bailout fund – to backstop states as they go on a spending spree to help economies back on their feet.
The deal will lay to rest some concerns that the bloc was incapable of uniting behind a common strategy when it was most urgently needed. It all still needs to be signed off by leaders as early as next week and tensions persist.
Covid-19 has overwhelmed Europe, with the continent suffering more than 65 per cent of the worldwide deaths attributable to the disease. The scale of the damage shines a spotlight on the vulnerabilities of a union that in the past decade has been rattled by the Greek debt crisis, an influx of refugees and then Brexit.