EU unveils massive aid plan; virus fatalities cross 3.5 lakh
CORONAVIRUS CRISIS European Union proposes €750-bn package to get continent back on its feet
The European Union (EU) unveiled a proposed 750billion-euro recovery plan on Wednesday to get the continent back on its feet after the devastation wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic, as Latin America outpaced Europe and the United States (US) in the number of daily infections.
The massive European plan follows other unprecedented emergency measures introduced around the world to rescue economies shattered by the disease, which claimed more than 350,000 lives while infections top 5.7 million.
While the virus continues to wreak havoc in Latin America, Europe has slowly started reopening businesses as outbreaks on the continent slow, but Italy and Spain lack the firepower of richer European nations to rebuild their economies.
The EU put forward a 750-billion-euro ($825 billion) proposal to the European Parliament and member states on Wednesday, aiming to help the worst-affected countries with a mix of grants and loans.
“This is Europe’s moment,” EU Commission chief Ursula Von der Leyen said Wednesday, urging solidarity. “We either all go it alone, leaving countries, regions and people behind... or we walk that road together.” The proposed package is expected to kick-off tough negotiations, as backers try to win the support of some northern EU states that oppose paying out aid in grants to nations already under mountains of debt. The proposal comes as the continent – which has lost at least 173,000 people to Covid-19 – grapples with the human tragedy and economic destruction. Meanwhile, Spain on Wednesday began 10 days of official mourning for the more than 27,000 people who died in the country, with all flags on public buildings at half-mast.
The Iberian nation and others hit particularly hard, such as Italy, Germany, France and Britain, have all started easing their lockdowns, as people head to shops, sunbathe at beaches and run in parks after months of confinement.
While desperate to kick-start their economies, especially the tourism sector, most governments in Europe are also trying to move cautiously, afraid of a second wave of infections.
Russia, meanwhile, said it had passed its peak of infections and in a sign of growing confidence a lockdown in hard-hit Moscow will start to be eased on June 1.