Coronavirus: EU agrees on a common economic response

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After an unsuccessful first meeting on Tuesday and then tense discussions, the European finance ministers finally managed to agree this Thursday, April 9, on a common economic response to the coronavirus, finding common ground with the Netherlands, for a long time inflexible.

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" The meeting ended with the applause of the ministers, " announced on Twitter the spokesperson for the president of the Eurogroup around 22:00 (20:00 GMT). The French Minister of Finance, Bruno Le Maire, welcomed him an " excellent agreement ", including " 500 billion euros available immediately " and " a stimulus fund to come ". This consensus is a relief for Europeans who manage to display unity in the face of the disastrous economic consequences of the virus, after weeks of procrastination highlighting a yawning divide between the countries of the North and those of the South.

A response focused on three axes

Faced with the pandemic, the European response must focus on three main areas: up to € 240 billion in loans from the euro zone relief fund, a guarantee fund of € 200 billion for businesses and up to 100 billion to support partial unemployment. The burning question of "coronabonds" Intended to support the economy in the longer term after the crisis, considered less urgent, was not decided on Thursday.

A unitary response was all the more essential since the European economy is heading towards a deep recession in 2020, the International Monetary Fund even believing that the coronavirus could cause worldwide " the worst economic consequences since the Great Depression " of 1929.

Wednesday morning, after sixteen hours of sterile discussions, The Hague had been unanimously criticized for its inflexibility, a blockage described as " counterproductive " and " incomprehensible " by the French presidency. Member States criticized the Netherlands - supported, according to a European source, by Austria, Sweden and Denmark - for blocking the activation of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) by strictly conditioning the loans that this fund could grant euro zone relief to economic reforms.

No agreement on debt pooling

The countries most affected by the virus, in particular Italy, are demanding the creation of a recovery fund which can be financed by common debt, in the form of eurobonds sometimes called "coronabonds" or "eurobonds " Among these countries are also Spain and France, as well as Greece, Malta, Luxembourg or Ireland, according to concordant sources. However, the pooling of debts constitutes a red line for Berlin and The Hague, which refuse to subscribe to a common approach with the highly indebted States of the South, considered lax in their management. The final text mentions a stimulus fund whose " legal and practical aspects ", in particular the funding will still have to be defined.

(With AFP)

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• Coronavirus
• Health and Medicine
• Economy
• European Union