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EU Leaders Weigh Massive Virus Economic Recovery Measures

Associated Press

   BRUSSELS - European Union leaders are set to weigh Thursday the damage
   the coronavirus has inflicted on health care systems and the lives of
   around half a billion citizens across the bloc as they struggle to
   devise a more robust plan to resuscitate their ravaged economies.

   As businesses cautiously open their doors in some European countries
   and citizens begin to venture out, the 27 leaders will endorse a series
   of urgent spending measures and debate a massive recovery plan they
   hope to introduce in coming weeks.

   The summit -- their fourth video-conference since the outbreak struck
   northern Italy two months ago -- comes at an extremely delicate time,
   with more than 100,000 Europeans known to have died, according to the
   European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

   Trust between member states has eroded, with hard-hit Italy and Spain
   notably lacking confidence that relatively wealthier northern EU
   partners like Austria, the Netherlands or Germany -- who have suffered
   less from the virus -- are willing to take swift, sweeping measures
   backed by real economic firepower.

   Speaking to the German parliament ahead of the meeting, Chancellor
   Angela Merkel said her government stands ready to help partners in
   trouble and is already contributing to a 540-billion-euro ($587
   billion) rescue package expected to be endorsed later Thursday.

   The aim is to have that so-called "safety net" to help pay lost wages,
   keep companies afloat and fund health care systems in place by June 1.

   But Merkel balked at the use of shared debt, dubbed coronabonds, saying
   that parliaments would have to endorse such a move anyway, meaning it
   could take too long for such funds to reach nations in trouble.

   "One thing is clear: We should be prepared, in the spirit of
   solidarity, to make significantly higher contributions to the European
   budget for a period of time," she told the lawmakers.
   

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