Dutch PM urges health fund for EU countries

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS—

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has proposed a multibillion-euro European Union fund to help countries in the 27-country bloc whose healthcare systems have been hardest-hit by the coronavirus outbreak. In an interview broadcast Wednesday night by Dutch news show Nieuwsuur, Rutte said: “We are, of course, in solidarity with south Europe. There’s no doubt about it.”

Speaking in Paris on Thursday, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire welcomed the proposal as a step in the right direction. “This is I think a very positive signal,” Le Maire said. “It’s good news that everybody now in Europe is aware of the necessity of showing a strong and clear solidarity among member states.” The proposed fund and Rutte’s comments follow harsh criticism of the Dutch from southern European countries over its opposition to an issuance of joint European debt, known as coronabonds or Eurobonds, and comments attributed to Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra about Spain’s ability to fund its medical response to the virus.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa last week called the comments “repugnant.”

“Hoekstra and I have said we could have communicated in a more subtle way,” Rutte told Nieuwsuur. Now, Rutte says the Dutch have “taken the initiative to establish a fund in the form of gifts for countries that are economically weaker to help them with the health-care costs of fighting the coronavirus.”