French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire attended the Eurogroup meeting on Friday by videoconference.
Photo: ludovic marin/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesBRUSSELS—European finance ministers worked through deep differences to agree to a package of measures late Thursday totaling half a trillion euros aimed at blunting the impact of the coronavirus on the region’s fragile economy, officials said. But a bigger conflict over whether to share the costs of the health crisis was deferred.
The agreement provided a moment of unity in what has been a bruising fight among European Union members over the response to the crisis, which has slammed some countries still recovering from the financial crisis a decade ago. Finance ministers had spent more than 15 hours Tuesday night trying to reach an accord without success.
However it provided only a temporary truce among hard-hit member including Italy and Spain and wealthier northern EU countries, like Germany and the Netherlands, over whether the 19 members of the common currency bloc should issue common eurozone debt to finance recovery efforts from the crisis.
Over coming months, the steps agreed to should offer businesses additional liquidity, help governments fund job programs and provide credit lines with relatively few strings attached to European governments that face difficulties accessing financial markets, according to a final text of the deal.
However, southern countries say immediate guarantees of common debt issuance are crucial to allow them to spend what they need to handle the coronavirus crisis. Without that promise, governments in the hardest hit countries, like Italy and Spain, may constrain stimulus now to avoid high debt level spiraling further and sparking a sovereign debt crisis as the bloc looks toward an economic recovery.
Under the deal, member states will be able to receive precautionary credit lines from the region’s bailout fund amounting to at least 2% of a country’s economic output, or some €240 billion ($262 billion) of the available credit in the region’s bailout fund, known as the European Stability Mechanism.
Finance ministers said they would try and set up access to the ESM within two weeks. The funding could help pay health costs and economic stimulus directly related to the crisis.
The finance ministers also backed a program extending up to €200 billion in loans to EU businesses, underwritten by €25 billion in member state guarantees for the European Investment Bank, the bloc’s finance arm.
They gave the go-ahead for a €100 billion jobs support program proposed last week by the European Commission. That will see the EU’s executive body borrow directly in the markets, with guarantees provided by member states, to help governments fund programs which prevent companies laying off workers.
Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
"impact" - Google News
April 10, 2020 at 04:40AM
https://ift.tt/34mRUsb
EU Finance Ministers Agree to Funding to Cushion Impact of Coronavirus - The Wall Street Journal
"impact" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2RIFll8
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "EU Finance Ministers Agree to Funding to Cushion Impact of Coronavirus - The Wall Street Journal"
Post a Comment