EU agrees 500 billion euros coronavirus rescue package

BRUSSELS: European Union’s finance ministers have agreed on a 500 billion euros ($540bn) rescue package for European countries badly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Chairman of Eurozone finance ministers, Mario Centeno, announced the deal on Frifay after lengthy discussions which ended last night in Brussels.

The agreement came after Spain’s prime minister said that the country was close to passing the worst of its coronavirus outbreak.

The main component of the rescue plan involves the European Stability Mechanism, the EU’s bailout fund, which will make 240 euros billion available to guarantee spending by indebted countries under pressure.

The EU ministers also agreed on other measures including 200 billion euros in guarantees from the European Investment Bank and a European Commission project for national short-time working schemes.

Meanwhile, France’s Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire hailed the agreement and described it as the most important economic plan in European Union history.

Earlier on Wednesday, EU ministers were close to a deal, but the talks broke down amid a dispute between Italy and the Netherlands over how to apply the recovery fund.

In Europe, Spain and Italy are the worst affected countries from coronavirus. So far, coronavirus has claimed lives of almost 18,200 people across Italy and has affected more than 143,000 people. Spain has Europe’s highest number of confirmed cases, with 152,446. More than 15,000 people have died so far.