China News Service reported on May 19th that on the 18th local time, French President Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel jointly proposed a "French-German Initiative" aimed at promoting the EU's economic recovery. The initiative will support the establishment of an EU recovery fund of up to 500 billion euros in order to break the deadlock in the common euro zone debt and provide a blueprint for a wider EU agreement.

Data map: German Chancellor Angela Merkel. China News Service reporter Peng Dawei

　　French media reported that in the past few weeks, the form of obtaining EU funds has been a stalemate among EU member states. If it is in the form of individual loans from various countries, it will undoubtedly further aggravate the situation of high debt for the poorly financed and severely affected southern European countries.

　　France hopes to raise funds in the international financial market in the name of the EU as a whole to reduce the cost of debt, but it has not been able to persuade Germany and other financially conservative Northwest European countries to issue a European Union bond to help countries such as Italy and Spain and southern Europe with severe epidemics resist economic shocks.

Data map: French President Macron. China News Service reporter Li Yangshe

　　On the 18th, Macron and Merkel held a video press conference, advocating to allow the European Commission to borrow cash in the financial market, and to use grants rather than loans to assist the European Union countries that are seriously affected by the new crown epidemic.

　　The BBC said the initiative represented a major shift in Merkel's position.

　　At the same time, France also made concessions. The report said that French President Macron wanted to set up a huge fund with a scale of 1 trillion euros, but compromised considering that Germany could not accept it.

　　For this initiative, Macron said: "I believe this is a very profound transformation, and the EU and the single market need this to be consistent."

　　European Commission President Von Delaine said the initiative "recognized the scope and scale of the economic challenges facing Europe." The European Central Bank (ECB) president Lagarde said the plan was "ambitious, well-defined and popular."

　　However, the initiative also needs the unanimous consent of other EU member states. At present, Austrian Prime Minister Kurz said he supports loans instead of grants to member countries hit hard by the new crown epidemic.