European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Friday the suspension of EU budgetary discipline rules, a new measure that will allow member states to spend as much as necessary to combat the economic consequences of the coronavirus.
"Today, and this is new and has never been done before, we are triggering the general notwithstanding clause" which allows these rules to be suspended, she said in a video posted on Twitter.
We promised we'll do everything to support Europeans & companies through the crisis. We deliver. Yesterday we put in place the most flexible ever #StateAid rules to help people + companies. Today we trigger the clause to relax budget rules, enabling govs to pump into the economy pic.twitter.com/a7IuuOSQWz
- Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) March 20, 2020>> READ - Coronavirus: follow live developments