In a column published in the Italian press on Thursday 2 April, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen expressed her regret to Italy for the delay in the EU's reaction to the coronavirus pandemic.

"I apologize, we are with you": the title of the letter to the Italians is direct. "Today, Europe is mobilizing alongside Italy. But that has not always been the case," she acknowledged in the daily La Repubblica.

Last week, the 27 EU members failed to reach an agreement to offer a strong response to the economic consequences of the pandemic. A divide had notably appeared between countries of the South, like Italy and Spain supported by France, which demanded a mutualisation of the debt via "corona bonds", and those of the North which, behind Germany and the Countries - Low, firmly rejected this option.

>> Read also: "The 'corona bonds', a new standard of solidarity at the time of Covid-19?"

Held by videoconference, the meeting ended with a minimum declaration planning to meet within two weeks to reach an agreement. In Italy, the founding country and pillar of the EU, this failure had been greeted with keen resentment and open anger against an "ugly", even "dead" Europe.

"It must be recognized that at the start of the crisis, faced with the need for a common European response, far too many thought only of their national problems", continues Ursula von der Leyen, who ends his letter with the initiatives taken by the EU to help the most affected countries, notably Italy.

"If we are a Union, the time has come to prove it"

The EU will "allocate up to 100 billion euros to the hardest hit countries, starting with Italy, to compensate for the drop in income of those with shorter working hours", he said. she notably insured.

According to her, Europe has also agreed on "loans guaranteed by all the Member States, which shows European solidarity". "Each euro still available in the annual EU budget will be spent to resolve this crisis," she said.

"If we are a Union, the time has come to prove it," Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said this week in an interview with the German weekly Die Zeit.

Italy is the country in the world most bereaved by the pandemic (more than 13,000 dead), according to official figures.

With AFP

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